A Chance to Start Again
by InfiniteSnow
Summary: Mikan is a warm person, who undeniably holds a taunting past. But when her only love of life cheats on her, and friends coldly push her to the corner of the edge, she feels hopeless. She then decides to enroll in Alice Academy America. But the real problem is, can she find a new love and friends? [YXM] Youichi and Mikan fanfic, not Mikan and Natsume fanfic.
1. The Betrayal

Mikan was stoic and silent.

She couldn't believe it.

The so-called person whom she had loved with all her heart was kissing that good-for-nothing bitch Luna Koizumi. Mikan stood still in pure shock as she watched her only love wrap his arms around someone else than her. To think that Natsume wanted to spend the rest of forever with her! He couldn't even stay loyal to her for more than a week! How could he!

Mikan spun around in her heals and sped to her classroom, only to find her classmates staring at her in pure disgust.

"Hotaru? Ruka? Permy? Everyone? What happened?" Mikan asked her face clearly masked by shock as she went to her best friend Hotaru to ask her what was wrong.

But before she could take one step near Hotaru…

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

Mikan fell to the ground, thudding her back to the ground hard. But this was not the other comical times when Mikan tried to hug Hotaru. Those times Hotaru used a light version on Mikan as a practical joke to silently amuse herself. Hotaru had_ never_ used her heaviest version. Until now.

Hotaru's violet eyes twitched in pure hatred as she stepped next to Mikan as she kicked Mikan in the stomach. "Get up, you worthless trash. Don't burden me with the responsibility of me having to take care of you every step of the way, loser."

Mikan's eyes watered as she stood up and slightly bent over from the seething pain from being struck in the stomach so hard.

"H-hotaru? W-what h-happened? W-why a-are y-you angry a-at m-me?" Mikan sobbed.

"Don't _what_ me! You have been such a giddy girl thinking that we will always take care of you! You always want your own way no matter what! Do you know that because of you, we had to sacrifice our health and happiness. The moment I met you, I knew you were one ball of trouble. And ever since I asked you to be my friend, I knew that my carefree world would be gone. Have you known that because of you, I lost my smile? I have been forming it for the last 4 years just to make you happy, you conceited jerk!" Hotaru shrieked at the top of her lungs.

Mikan widened my eyes. And then Mikan saw something she didn't expect to see nor hear.

Ruka's once gentle blue ocean eyes were now the color of an ocean storm. His pet Usagi cringed in distate toward Mikan as well.

"I agree with Imai-san. Somehow I even felt ever since I met you, I felt even darker. Why do you have to exist, Sakura-san?" he roughly whispered.

That did it. Tears spilled from her eyes. She sobbed. But that was not enough to signal a stop to their complaints.

I braced myself for more. The next one was from Permy, the gentle green-eyed, green-haired girl who loved Mikan as a sister like Hotaru.

_SLAP! _There was a red, swollen bruise as big as Permy's palm was throbbing on my right cheek. "YOU MANIPULATOR! I BECAME YOUR SO-CALLED SISTER, AND WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU JUST TOOK AWAY MY NATSUME-SAMA AND RUKA-SAMA! THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR HURTING MY HEART! I AM SO GLAD THEY HATE YOU, YOU WORTHLESS WITCH!"

_SLAP! _Permy had banged her fist against Mikan's other unbruised, leaving it as swollen as the other one. But the torture didn't stop there. The two twins stepped up.

"Why don't you leave?" whispered Nonoko, anger building up in her voice.

"Just get out of our lives, okay?" simpered Anna, anger sliding and slurring in her voice.

"WE HATE YOU, MIKAN! GO AWAY! YOU ARE AS GOOD AS DEAD NOW!" they yelled in unison, venom doubled the time.

Mikan broke down sobbing, not understanding what she had done in order to be a distaste. She was surprised when Koko and Kitsu nodded in disgust. Only Yuu was kind to her and helped her up from her curled up form on the floor.

"Mikan-chan? Are you allright? Don't worry. I am sure they didn't mean it." Yuu soothed.

"Hey! Traitor! Don't go taking her side. She is a worthless brat, and you know it! Why don't you openly admit she is nothing but a burden on you? Huh?" taunted Hotaru.

Yuu shivered at this unfeeling words towards Mikan. _How can she have the guts to say this to Mikan? Especially when Mikan was the one to worry over Hotaru so much?_

He straightened up, partly bending over to support Mikan who was bending over from her injuries. "Because I have nothing to say mean about her. Unlike all of you who have the guts to say such vile words against her, I felt her presence like a light. I do not even know what made you think this way. If even, Mikan was the one who had cried over all of you. When anything happened to any of us, she would refuse to sleep. Whenever you needed favors from her, she gladly helped. Whenever she had the opportunity to share, she did so with a smile on her face. You all, she loved you so much as her dear friends and yet you have the hearts of stone to hurt her, emotionally and physically." Yuu coldly snapped.

Mikan widen her eyes, but then relaxed in relief knowing she has one good friend. Hotaru was about to snap back at Yuu for betraying their side to take Mikan's, when the intercom speaker saved Mikan.

And surprisingly, it was her uncle, Kazumi Yukihira.

"_Excuse me, I need Mikan Yukihira of class 2-B to report to my office. I repeat – I need the student by the name of Mikan Yukihira of class 2-B to report to my office as soon as possible. Thank you very much"_

A stoic of static ended the message that blasted over the school. Everyone stood in stone silence for a minute before Yuu broke it and said, "Mikan-chan? You look badly injured. Shall I escort you there? I don't mind cutting into my free period in helping you."

Mikan sadly nodded her head. She took a deep breath, and with courage evident in her eyes, heart, and soul, she took a step after step with Yuu's kind help.

Mikan knew one thing: She was not guilty. Whatever Hotaru, Ruka, Sumire, Anna, Nonoko, Koko, and Kitsu had spat into her face wasn't true.

Because if at that moment, if everyone would've broken at her trance and bounced at her saying they were sorry, Mikan would've forgiven them.

But it looks like ego had filled up the hearts of her ex-friends. She broke open from her train of thoughts and stared blinkingly at the HSP's door.

She sucked in a breath. _What does uncle need me for at this time of the day?_

Yuu noticed Mikan's uneasiness and shaking and asked, "Are you okay? Can you do this?"

Mikan closed her eyes of despair. She held it shut for 10 seconds. The eyes she had shut were cowardly, soft, and delicate. But the new eyes she opened were courageous, determined, and bold.

She realized. What is the worst can happen to her?

Noone (except Yuu) considers her a friend.

So what does she have to be afraid of?

Nothing.

Mikan breathed in and out before reaching her hand for the handle and opening it.


	2. Goodbye Japan, Hello America

Mikan sucked in her breath and gathered her courage.

She wound her bruised hand along the long golden curve and gently turned it to open the door.

Inside was her uncle, with Narumi sensei, Jinno sensei, Imai senpai, Sakurano senpai, Hii-sama, and lastly the person she hated the most in the world, even more than Natsume for his betrayal.

The ESP.

The source of all of her sufferings.

Luckily he had his malicious mouth closed and he seated himself in his corner, even facing the wall. Probably to cool off his anger. But let it all up to Mikan to tell you how STUPID he looked.

**Mikan's POV~**

I stood, gawking at how stupid the ESP looked. He looked like a 3-year-old baby, experiencing the first time in life that you do not always get what you want. Boy if she had a camera, she would take the snapshot and tweet it. If only twitter WAS allowed.

But that wasn't my real case for coming here.

I snapped my attention to uncle again.

I focused on uncle, who was staring at me in shock, from what happened to me.

"Mikan? What…..happened to you? How…..did you get hurt? You look…..terrible." uncle breathed, his voice tainted in concern.

I smiled weakly, but struggled in opening my mouth, since it was stinging with pain from Permy hitting me hard.

Yuu caught this from the corner of her eyes, and answered for me, "Mikan-chan got hit and slapped and cut by her own friends. Honestly I do not know what made them do such a thing. The most surprising thing is, is that I didn't see any of Luna's controlling black marks."

Uncle was worried, so he had summoned Imai senpai to heal me fast, as my body couldn't take all of the injuries.

Imai-senpai put a hand on my shoulder, and a warm blue glow spread from his hand onto my weak shoulder, and spread to the rest of my body.

The internal pain, external pain slowly erased. My cuts, stings on my cheeks, the kick from Hotaru, and even my swollen puffy bags around my eyes slowly erased, leaving me pale and beautiful. As if I had never been kicked in the first place.

I voiced my thanks to Imai senpai along with a sweet smile, and he gave a small smile and a nod of recognition before stepping back, and releasing his hand from my shoulder.

I turned my head back to uncle, and urged him to speak. Because I am sure he had other things to tell me.

"Uncle? You surely had a reason to call me down here, am I right?" I asked, with all the respect I could gather.

He nodded. "Sit down please."

I did. And Yuu took the chair next to me.

Uncle proceeded. "Mikan, you may not know it, but you have another 4 unique alices that are paired up together."

I widened my eyes. What does he mean by 4 extra alices?

All I have is the Nullification, right?

But uncle shook his head.

"Mikan, I looked at your photo and saw that not do you own the rare Nullification Alice, but you have the S.E.C.I. alice, as well." Uncle said, as if reading my mind.

NOW I am confused. WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES THAT MEAN?

"The S.E.C.I. Alice stands for: Steal, Erase, Copy, and Insertion. Meaning, you can steal someone's Alice and turn it into an Alice stone, Erase someone's Alice for good, Copy someone's alice by stealing first and duplicating the Alice stone, and finally when you have an Alice stone, you can insert it into other people, giving them "temporary" Alices." Uncle continued, as if reading my mind.

Allright. But what should I do with them? Go self-destruct? Kill myself? Because no one wants to be around me except Yuu. And Rina-chan (my declared little sister who always clings to me).

"Mikan, in order to utilize these powers, I want you to go to Alice Academy America, whose school is as prestigious as here. I know that here you are detested by your friends and right now you are petrified on what to do. Don't worry. I will try to make them regret on what they said to you. But I want you to go there to practice your new powers and become stronger. Acquire more powers, and become confident. At first I was reluctant on letting you go there, because AAA is so far away. It is in America, even. But seeing you with no hope here, I can't let you go on being emotionless and sad here. I hope by going there, the main reason can help you see that you are NOT useless, and there are other people who will admire you for who you are, not just wealth, money, and status. But this is your choice. You can still stay here or you can go there. I can give you three days to find out for yourself. Give it some thought," uncle concluded.

Silence.

America, huh?

Not bad.

Maybe it can take me from a far place away from my friends who used me and hurt me. I will keep in touch with Yuu and Rina-chan, as they are the ones who held me strong while I felt apart. But for, Natsume, Hotaru, and the others, I will never forgive them.

I guess this is goodbye, my love, my Natsume.

I guess this is farwell, my dear, dear sister Hotaru-nee.

And I guess this is sayonara to everybody, because I won't see you again. Maybe I might, but you might not want to see me, as you might have your own lives, that are not built to have me as a part of it.

And with this tear, let me let you all go.

Let me say sorry for anything unnoticed action I might have committed. I breathed, one tear of regret spilled on my right cheek.

"_Everyone, I am so sorry. Please forgive me. Always keep me in your hearts, because no matter what, I love all of you," _I vowed in my heart.

"So what is the long wait of three days? I don't mind leaving, uncle. When is the soonest flight?" I demanded, voice shaking.

"Mikan… oh allright. The soonest flight that you can have is tomorrow night. I am sorry you have to go with this, but I will severly punish your friends. And do not argue with me on that. They do not deserve to do this to you." Uncle said, with a hard tone.

I nodded my head.

Tears threatened to slide down, but I had the will power to keep it in. Yuu gave me a concerned glance, but I assured him I was fine.

I couldn't bear letting anyone suffer. Even my so-called friends.

"Good. Now return to class. I know you are scared, so Narumi sensei and Yuu will go back with you so that no one will hurt you, allright?" uncle asked.

I nodded. But my nod felt forced. Like I was a marionette on strings, and my puppet master was pulling my sting to jerk my head in a nod.

Narumi sensei and Yuu gave me a concerned glance as they looked at my lifeless eyes. But nonetheless, they escorted me back to class. The class I was supposed to have English with everyone.

I tapped down the silent, marble hallway, and Narumi sensei opened the door to the English classroom. He walked in gloomily.

"Sorry I am late. I had a conference. I had to bring Mikan-chan and Yuu-kun back from the office. You two, take the two front seats." Narumi persisted in a flat voice.

We nodded and took the seats, and stared ahead, dead eyes, with no emotion.

And I could almost notice the worried eyes of Hotaru, Natsume, and the others bore onto the back of my head with questions I couldn't hear.

**Hotaru's POV**

Mikan?!

Oh my god, she looks like she is dead!

Is it because of what I said to her? NOOOOOO! Mikan! I am so sorry! Please hug me, please say that I am a meanie! Please tell me to buy howalon for you! But please do not look so lifeless!

I, what I did, was a bet. Luna that stupid bitch threatened me to hurt you and suck your soul out if all of us decided not to do as you said!

But Mikan! Mikan! O, what happened to my sweet little sister Mikan!

Where on this lonely planet are you! Come back! I miss you!

My violet eyes watered and let out the tears of pain, guilt, and sadness. I can sense something bad happening, a force that might take us apart.

**Normal POV**

Mikan went to her dorm, shuffling her little feet. She was so tired, and she couldn't hold in her pure sadness. She had decided not to cry, so she couldn't spill any tears now. It was weird, because whenever she was emotionally sad, crying silent tears and stroking her bed sheets helped.

But it was useless now. Nothing could calm her sadness.

Mikan slowly faltered her eyes shut.

And slept the night away.

NEXT DAY –

Mikan got up and stretched. She went to the bathroom and let her hair loose. What is the point in putting it in pigtails?

She got out of her room barely when she was attacked by a small chibi. Rina chan.

"Mikan-onee chan! Where are you going! Don't go to America! Don't leave me and Natsume nii! He loves you too, remember?!" Rina sobbed.

Mikan gave a sad smile and slumped down to her knees so she could meet Rina's height level. She cupped Rina's cheeks and gave in.

"Rina, I am so sorry. But Natsume doesn't love me anymore. All of my friends hate me, except Yuu. You, along with Yuu, please give me strength. When I go to America, I will think of you. When I find someone new to love, I will think you two. When I find new friends, I will think of you two. But do not cry, on my last day. What I want is smiles and hugs on my last day to spend with you.

If you want, can you help me pack? I have so many things to do and get done.

Rina silently sobbed, but eagerly nodded. She was now going to make Natsume (her former onii-chan) pay BIG time.

At the end of the day, Rina curled up into bed, to wait for Mikan to change clothes.

Mikan looked at herself.

Her hair had bangs part in the middle. She forced this part so that she could look nothing like her mother. But the moment she took the brush and brushed it down, she had identical bangs like her deceased mother, Yuka Azumi Yukihira.

She did her hair in a low ponytail and got scissors. Where the rubber band was secured at partly loosely, is where she positioned her sharp scissors slightly above and cut.

Her ponytail bundle fell and all she had was a small blob cut that looked identical to Yuka's after Yuka had cut her own hair out of grief of Igarashi Kaoru's death in a car crash.

She went to her clothing she laid out for herself. A royal blue ruffled blouse top (royal blue was Mikan's favorite color), leg hugging jeans, and her moccasin boots.

She changed, and didn't forget to put on the Pandora bracelet her mother gave to her, as a mother-daughter present on her last birthday with her mother.

She woke Rina up, and Rina slowly got down the bed and silently sobbed as Mikan got her suitcases in the limo. Yuu was there, casting a sad glance.

"Rina? I have a present for you!" Mikan exclaimed. She took a sterling silver chain that contained a huge Nullification stone. She put the stone around Rina's neck and said, "Take care of it, okay? This is my feelings and happiness, with memories of all the beautiful times we two had together as sisters. We will meet again, and when we do, I will let you move in with me, where you will live until you can lift yourself with your own wings." Mikan vowed.

Rina shook her head furiously. And smiled to Mikan big, knowing Mikan loved her smiles.

To Yuu, she gave a device that she made with Hotaru's purple Alice stone when they WERE friends.

"Here is a device. I have the paired up one. Just email me when you want to talk to me, day and time, and we can have a face-to-face talk. More like a webcam. And this comes with a mini-projector to display my screen and show me to multiple people if they want to talk to me, and I can talk to them, if you decide to use the projector. You and Rina can chat with me when I have a few hours on my hand. And I will promise to send gifts, parcels, and letters to you and the teachers and HSP and MSP. Take care, okay?" Mikan asked.

Yuu nodded, happy knowing he will have a way to talk to Mikan.

Rina tucked in the stone under her shirt and Yuu pocketed the device.

Mikan sadly went over to the two of them and gave them each a hug that lasted for a minute.

She then went into the limo.

And breathed, _sayonara, everyone._

With that, Mikan bid farewell to Japan, and hello to America.

And the black sleek Limo sped off to the Airport.


	3. New School, New Friends

Mikan was sobbing silently in her heart as she saw Rina-chan sobbing and Yuu glancing sadly at her, waving and whispering, "Come back soon, Mikan-chan."

But Mikan doesn't know if that will happen.

She doesn't know how long she has to stay in America. She is 13. She might be staying there until her last high school year.

And yet she is leaving the little girl unprotected.

Rina is so young, and her last adored person is leaving her.

No.

She would never leave Rina. Because Rina reminded too much of herself when she lost her two parents at the same time. Rina reminded of Mikan as her little 3-year-old self crying and clinging to her mom's hand as Yuka had said her last words:

"_Mikan, I am truly sorry. But I and your father hope you can find the friends you trust, the family you can rely on, and the one special person whom will love you. Remember, you know you are truly in love when the person who loves you doesn't force himself onto you and will love you and you love him back not just for his looks, but for his kind personality. You know you found someone to love when he doesn't try to possess you, but rather protect you." – The last words._

And to think that Mikan found it with Natsume! He tried to control her, limiting whom she can interact with, saying she cannot go near any boys other than him or Ruka. And that she can go to some girls for friendships. Her life was like a cage.

She was caged up, like a bird not allowed to freely sing.

But to only do and sing the songs of her MASTER.

And it just wasn't right. It didn't sound like the description of love that her mother narrated in her last words.

But instead it sounded the opposite.

This isn't love. Natsume didn't love her. For reasons Mikan doesn't know, she knew at least that Natsume was trying to own her rather than love her.

Mikan sadly gazed outside her window and at the whirring landscape that buzzed outside her window.

She wondered one thing.

What will America bring?

Above all, Mikan's goal is to become a brilliant violin player and piano player so that she could try to be part of the London Symphony.

But she also hopes there will be a person who will love her for herself, love her for her characteristics, and will care about her well-being.

She hopes there can be friends that worry very much for her health as she will worry over them.

And she hopes that she can settle down there, with the new person she loves and with Rina-chan, until the day Rina has fallen for some young person. And until Rina wants to get married and have her own life. Yes. Mikan wants to support Rina until the day Rina has her own set of beautiful wings.

The limo pulled in front of the airport, and she grabbed her luggage and headed straight in the airport. She felt strong, no doubt. But it is hard to let go of once-important people.

Especially like letting go of Natsume, even if he doesn't love her, she decided to at least be friends and support him no matter what.

And Hotaru. Even if Hotaru says she is worthless, Mikan hopes that Hotaru and Ruka end up together and have a bright future together.

Mikan hopes that her going will resent the darkness occluded in her friends' lives.

She hopes that with her gone, her friends can learn to smile again.

And above all, she hopes that with her long gone from Japan, her friends' lives can heal again, slowly by slowly.

She smiled at that thought sadly as she waited in the waiting room for her flight to New York City, New York.

Then the flight attendant's announcement answered her cue:

_Passengers leaving for New York City, New York in America, form a line, with the class order. We will be starting the boarding._

Mikan's heart thumped and she sadly stood in front of the line, as she was first class. Her ticket was scanned, and her passport.

It was all over.

No one will stop her from going to America.

She was right. Those one-of-a-kind "friends" hated her. And now she will make new ones, and she will find a new love life. But she will pine and mourn over her losing her old friends and love.

All in a breath and a farewell will she let go of Natsume as her loved one, and will she let go of being the "reason of misery" of her previous friends.

With those thoughts she took, as she strolled down the hall and boarded on the plane, she breathed so soothingly under her breath, so yearningly that it traveled in miles and miles radius around her:

_Sayonara, my love and my beloved friends._

**Hotaru's POV:**

I trudged to my classroom. Ruka was following behind me with a worried look on his face and on his miniature bunny as well.

To tell you the truth, I was saddened and somehow guilt ate my heart.

I unconsciously sat in my desk and anticipated Narumi-sensei's arrival.

And the scene I saw when he came definitely affirmed my heart.

Narumi-sensei, in a black suit with a black tie, black pants, white shirt, and polished black clothes was carrying Rina-chan, who was silently sobbing on his shoulder. She was dressed in a mini laced white dress, with white socks, and little black shoes.

Narumi put Rina-chan down and she made her way for the seat Mikan would sit in, and wept on the desk very loud.

And worried, I noticed that Narumi sensei, unlike his normal perverted face, and frilly clothes, was icy now. He had dead eyes, and a black aura around him. He was even scarier than Jin-Jin.

"N-narumi S-sensei? W-where i-is M-m-mikan? I-isn't she c-coming today?" Hotaru sobbed.

"What do you care, lowlife?" Narumi spat "That is kind for someone who kicked Mikan in the stomach. Touché."

I broke down and sobbed. Ruka tried to pick her up, and while supporting pleaded, "Please, sensei! Luna forced this on us, and said that if we didn't comply to her orders, she would suck Mikan's soul out. Please tell, where is Mikan-chan! We want to say sorry!"

"Well she is gone. Hope you are happy, and if you are not, then you shouldn't have done that cruel deed. Do you know that Mikan can just nullify Luna's alice? Yet you didn't use your pea-sized brains to process that. She is in Alice Academy America to find people who admire her and her new alices, and find a new person to love and new friends to trust, unlike you all! Free period!" Narumi boomed and stomped out of the classroom.

I broke down and curled up on the floor crying.

Ruka was next to me, and had his head in his arms and was hugging his knees, crying softly.

The twins wept.

Koko and Kitsu didn't flinch.

Sumire cursing herself on treating Mikan in the worst manner possible.

Natsume's manga thud on the floor, and from his schocked crimson eyes, unstoppable tears hit the floor.

Luna sat back and smirked.

And the rest of the class wailed. And then the unthinkable happened.

I heard Mikan's voice, soft and a lullaby sing into my ears:

"_Sayonara, my love and my beloved friends."_

I ran to the window, opened it, and yelled out, "Mikan! Come back! I am so sorry! Don't go away from me! Please come back! I promise never to do this to you again! Where are you?!"

My knees buckled down, and I sunk to the floor weeping, "Where are you, Mikan! Do you realize you took my soul with you?"

And I wept, and wept, and wept. For, the only thing I could do in regret for Mikan's eerie departure is to weep.

**Mikan's POV**

I woke up from my long slumber when I heard the announcement of the news that the plane will be landing in New York in 15 minutes.

Quickly, I realized I was hungry.

I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup from a flight attendant.

And while waiting, I checked my wrist to make sure that my mom's Pandora bracelet was still there. It was. I breathed a sigh of relief.

The food came, and I had my fill to fill my stomach.

The plane landed and I grabbed my carry-on and strolled out of the plane. I got my other luggage and swiftly strode through the airport.

When I came out of the airport, a man in a black suit with black shades stepped up forward and asked, "Are you Miss. Mikan Yukihira?"

"Yes," I answered with a steady voice.

He ushered me to the car, saying that the limo will take me to the Academy.

I stepped inside and the limo took off. The man then took off his shades and introduced himself.

"**Hello, Miss. Yukihira. I presume that you can speak Enlgish?" **He inquired.

"**Yes, sir," **I replied with equal confidence.

"**Allright. Now when we get to the academy, there will be three students who are eagerly waiting to meet you. They, like you, are in Dangerous Ability class. But do not worry. The missions given out are not harmful, and I make sure that the missions given out are safe for the students to accomplish." **The man assured.

I nodded, and then urged him to continue.

"**Hi. I am Mike Sanders. I am the Middle School Principal, the principal of your school division." **He said, grinning while sticking out a hand for me to shake.

"**You know my name, too," **I said accepting his hand and shook it briefly.

"**Yes. And as you know, you will be special star, and will be living in a home with the other Dangerous Ability students, with your own room to yourself." **He continued smoothly.

I nodded.

"**Ah! Looks like we are here! I am going to step outside and talk to them before I let you come out too, okay?"** He asked.

I nodded like a puppet, once again.

"**Good!" **he smiled.

**Hannah's POV**

"**OMG, Mike! We get to have another girl in the DA! I heard her name is Mikan! It sounds so cute! She is Japanese! I bet she is as cute as her name! Right? Right? Mike? Youichi?" **Hannah asked for the millionth time.

"**Hmm. Maybe she is as cute as you, Hannah," **My boyfriend Mike answered with lights dancing in his eyes as he let one arm snake around my waist. I blushed, nodded and leaned in for a warm, small kiss. I broke it when Youichi was scowling in disgust.

"**What?!" **I asked, oblivious to his response.

"**I just hope she isn't as ugly as YOU," **he smirked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

I forced Mike to let me go and took out my invention of Ultra Idiot Mallot 9.0, and hit Youichi square on the head. I then scolded him and lectured him as long as I wished, with Mike watching in sneer amusement at Youichi's fake sufferings.

Then I heard a black, sleek limo. I saw MSP get out of the car. Boy I could kill him with questions about Mikan.

"**Calm down, calm down, Hannah. I am happy you are eager to meet Mikan. I will tell you all about her before letting her out. Her name is Mikan Sakura Yukihira. She is 13 years old. She is Special Star, in Dangerous Ability Class with all of you three, and has the Nullification Alice and the S.E.C.I. Alice, which is the Stealing, Erase, Copy, and Insertion Alice. She has had a rocky past, you all, after losing her parents, adoptive grandparents, and when she enrolled in Gakuen Alice, she got backstabbed by her own friends, thus having her transferred here. Please treat her nicely, you three. Hannah, of all three, act as her older sister, for she has nobody to put her trust into," **the MSP concluded sadly.

I stood still.

What? She suffered that much? By her so-called b*tchy friends in Japan? Oh will I make those MORONS pay for what they have done.

I nodded, dutifully accepting the role of being her sister.

The MSP smiled sadly. **"Glad you accept. Come on out Mikan. Do not worry, they are family to you."**

And she stepped out.

**Youichi's POV**

I, along with Hannah and Mike stood silently and waited for this girl Mikan to get out. And when she did, I swear my heart stopped when I saw her.

Unlike most girls who looked pudgy or too curvy, or too thin, or too fat, she was different.

She was a few inches shorter than me, and had a slim body figure, with small curves, long legs, flamboyant arms, thin fingers, a thin neck, and a heart-shaped face.

Her hair was auburn, the most alluring color for hair I had ever seen for a girl. Never had I seen a shade of hair this mesmerizing. It was short cut, perfect cut hanging two inches above her shoulders, and she had the most breathtaking marble orbs that reflected light off beautifully.

She even had amazing taste in clothing. She likes royal blue, just like me. But I was shocked to see that slightly worried look on her face, and glittering in her eyes.

What had those good-for-nothing idiots in Japan do this time? They really hurt her, I bet. My heart pounded furiously as I gazed upon her. I bet I was blushing a million shades of red when she gave me a questioning look.

To hide myself, I looked at the ground as if it was the most captivating thing in the world, when in reality, it was really Mikan.

"**Hey-ho, Youichi! Lover boy! I was trying to tell you the last 5 minutes that you will be Mikan's partner in School and in missions!" **The MSP pouted. For a principal, he pouts like a 5 year old.

I blushed harder when I heard it, but then followed everyone as Mikan strode with all of her luggage.

We showed her to her room and waited for her in dinner.

**Mikan's POV**

I looked around my room. It was so pretty. One room had the color and pattern of a honeycomb with some actual honeycomb shelves to put my books.

Good thing I brought some.

The closet was wide and spacious. Inside I saw my uniform. My uniform was identical to the one in Gakuen Alice. (To visualize, please visualize Higuchi Tachibana sensei's sketch on the Winter Uniform, Summer Uniform, and coat for middle school division.)

My summer uniform and all, with its socks/black shoes, my winter uniform with its low socks and high boots, and my coat with its matching beret was in there. A small plastic ring (that was cuttable, like those rings that are like tags on new clothes) looped around the left collar edge on both my summer uniform and winter uniform, had a plastic bag containing my Special Star Ranking pin to put on my collar whether I liked it or not.

I also had mission clothes: White V-necked t-shirt, cargo pants, laced up leather boots, fingerless black gloves, a white half-mask which was decorated with Sakura petals, and had a crescent moon on one corner of the mask, and finally a coat that looked like a detective coat. (To visualize, refer to Yuka-san's attire in her first appearance, in the time where Mikan meets her, and Z goes self destruct.)

I filled in my clothes in the giant wardrobe, looking disappointed at how empty it looked. I decided to make a shopping day for clothes.

I filled in the books in the giant bookcase, and my keepsakes in the honeycomb shelves. (Did I mention, they had glass doors? They are more like showcase!)

I filled in my toiletries in the bathroom and changed into dark blue yoga pants, V-necked white t-shirt (not the mission t-shirt), and stripped off my socks.

I padded to the dinner table where I saw everyone there waiting for me.

"**Sorry to keep you waiting," **I looked at the floor, my voice shaking.

"**No it is okay," **said Hannah, giving me a tight squeeze, **"Let's start eating, shall we?"**

After dinner, we sat in the living room. It was stoic and silent and my eyes never left the floor during the silence.

"**So what happened in Japan? I heard you were betrayed in there!" **proclaimed Hannah, full of sympathy.

I looked at Hannah, then to the others in the room. Hannah and her boyfriend Mike were looking at me in curiosity and sympathy. Youichi was looking at me in anxiousness, like he would be at my side if I suddenly collapse.

"**I-," **I broke down crying, the first time crying here in a strange world. Hannah came and gave me a big hug while Mike stayed quiet, and Youichi filled of worry, up to the brim. Somehow, Youichi reminded me of Natsume, before he cheated on me.

I told them.

I told them about my parent's death. My adoptive grandfather's death. How I transferred to Gakuen Alice at the age of 10. How everyone accepted me and loved me for my alice when I proved I had one. The festivals, dances, games, pranks, and laughters we all shared.

I went in detail all the way to the last bit. And all the way to where Natsume said he loved me and then cheated on me with Luna, and said he used me to make him more popular, and that I didn't need to bother to be in his life anymore, for I am now nothing to him. And I told them about all the abusive words that my friends said to me, and the physical abuse they bestowed upon me, thus being the reason why I complied with my uncle's wish for me to transfer here.

When I was done, it was quiet. They were all shocked.

I curled into a ball while I hugged my knees and buried my face into my lap as I cried, begging for them not to hurt me.

Hannah lifted a hand, and I cringed, because she lifted it the same way Hotaru did. But instead of using the hand to hit me hard or to use it in any abusive physical torture, she gently stroked my head. Just like Hotaru did in my most critical and crucial moments.

And another arm hugged me around my shoulder as Hannah said soothing tones. The tones she said were American Songs. I do know English, but no English songs.

But her voice breathed in and out, lulling me until I couldn't cry my heart out. It went on for another hour, until I could stop.

I smiled at her, and made way for my room, as we all did.

But I couldn't sleep.

I sat up in bead and sank to my knees, sobbing silently.

I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed for a while until I heard soft footsteps coming and opening my bedroom door. Oh no! Hannah! I woke her up!

But this time it wasn't her. And I am sure it wouldn't be her boyfriend cheating on her or if it was, then I would use the copy and use Hanah's invention alice to make a machine to kick him to Mars for cheating on Hannah.

No.

It couldn't be.

The only person left who would dare to come in my room would be Youichi Hijiri.

Strong, muscular arms shoved the thin veil out of the way. And even with my back to this figure, I knew it was him.

The same strong pair of arms slid around my waist, pulling me to his body. The grip was loose at first, but then became tighter and tighter. It became tight enough for me to feel secure.

Youichi climbed up onto my bed and positioned his chin onto my shoulder, and turned his face's direction toward my neck, inhaling my scent.

I saw grey tufts of Youichi's hair intermix with my short auburn hair.

"**Yo-youichi? W-what are y-you d-doing in m-my room?" **I asked, my voice hiccupping, from crying over Natsume dumping me, and my friends hurting me.

"You know, I can speak Japanese, too, so if you don't want Hannah or Mike understanding what you want to tell me, we can speak in Japanese," He said, kissing my neck, and his arms on my waist repeatedly shaping out my slight curves on my hips. He encaged my entire figure by drawing a boundary for me by circling me with his outstretched legs.

I tried to wrenched myself free, but oh, man, he was so strong, that after few attempts, I remained in his grasp.

"What is it, Youichi?" I asked, calmly.

"What were you thinking about? Nightmare?" He asked spinning my body around to be so close to him, face-to-face with him.

I have never paid details, but I willed to look in his eyes.

The first time I saw his eyes, my heart fluttered.

They were beautiful, alluring…

Those beautiful emerald eyes glittered furiously through the soft moonlight straight into my eyes. The same way Natsume's crimson eyes would bore into mine when he would be demanding something from me.

But Youichi, unlike Natsume, wasn't possessive. Something I loved him for.

And I think a drawing factor about him. To my shock, he is fitting the puzzle pieces and starting to meet the requirements on a true lover.

I couldn't lie to him. I just couldn't.

So I admitted, "I am thinking about _them_."

His eyes glittered furiously more than before, and he gave me a strong, secured hug.

He vowed on the full moon of Selene to keep me safe. He vowed to keep me more than an armlength of harm's way.

And he sealed this promise with a deep kiss. A kiss that got more intense by the second.

And this kiss on the lips, this deep kiss of promise lasted 5 minutes. Then we pulled our faces away.

And then I tugged on his shirt and cried, "Please, please don't leave me! Stay with me one night! I am too scared to sleep on my own. I cried silently, praying for him not to leave me, because if he does, I might lose the sanity of right and wrong, which I almost did, when Natsume threw me away.

He lifted a hand to wipe away my tears and promised to stay with me as many nights as I want.

I, relieved, laid down on my bed, knowing I am safe. Youichi's arms encircled my waist once more, and pulled me to him, so that my face faced his chest. He pulled the covers on us, and regained his tight grip on me.

Enveloped in so much warmth, I willed myself to sleep.

**Youichi's POV**

My heart pounded hard against my chest as I tightly embraced her. Her tear-faced face looked so cute and pretty as she slept. Her short auburn hair was smooth and silky. Her skin was a flawless pale color, with light pink blush on her cheeks.

Her spidery lashes were long (not too long) and beautiful. She had the scent of Strawberry Vanilla. And her lips were soft and tasted strawberry.

No girl made me feel this way. I had vowed to never fall in love after my parents said they didn't want me, yet she drew me to her like a magnet.

What was this feeling?

The pang in my chest replied and answered my longing question.

Love.

Call it love at first sight, but I fell in love for her soft looks and the fact that she didn't drool over me like his fangirls.

And my promise to stay with her. I hoped to stay with her forever so I can always see her smile.

I genuinely smiled at her, before drifting off to sleep myself.


	4. Preparations and a Celebration

The sunlight shone brightly.

It was 9 o'clock in the morning, on a Saturday.

Mikan slowly woke up from her trance, and blushed furiously when she remembered she fell asleep. He looked so cute and peaceful when he slept. Not to mention, but Mikan thought of Youichi as a child when he slept, with his entwining grey hair mixing with her bangs.

Then Mikan saw the time.

Oh.

My.

God.

Mikan shot up from the bed, waking Youichi when she broke from his steady grasp on her waist.

"Mikan, you do know today is SATURDAY, right? No school today," Youichi laughed.

Youichi laughed even harder when Mikan stood still and did a facepalm after 20 seconds.

"Okay, okay. Fine. But I am getting ready," Mikan pouted ever-so-cutely.

**Mikan's POV**

I went to my closet and opened it wide to see what I could wear. And the moment I did that, I heard a soft gasp from Youichi.

"Youichi. Don't. Laugh. At. Me." I said sending a glare at him.

He shook his head to prove he wasn't laughing at me. So I erased my glare but questioningly looked at him.

"Is that all the clothes and shoes you have? That is all you could bring from Japan, or is it your whole wardrobe?" Youichi pressed.

His tone didn't mock me in thinking I was spoiled, so I answered him with a shrug, "Back in Gakuen Alice, I couldn't afford to get myself a wardrobe full of clothes. Probably because the clothing in Central Town, the shopping center in Gakuen Alice, was too expensive. So when I packed, this is all that I had with me."

"Do you even have a dress? Like a long one?" He pressed further.

I gave him a weird look. "No, why would I need one anyway?"

"We have a dance at the beginning of every school year. There will be one next week to signify the start of school. You need one, or a few, if you never bought one in Japan. Plus you need some shoes to match them and more clothes to wear. God you need to shop today. Not that I want to sound like a girl. You desperately need some. I am going to tell Hannah to take you out for shopping," exclaimed Youichi, jumping off the bed and out of the room.

"But wait! I don't have the money!" I yelled after Youichi.

"It's a treat on us!" he yelled over his shoulder.

I sighed, and walked over to my closet. To wear for today, I took out another white V-neck but this time was a deeper v cut, with on the side, stenciled butterflies with sprayed color slowly and gradually fading away wrapped in glitter of contrasting color intermixed with Sakura petals. I chose denim shorts that weren't too short and not too long. I made sure the Pandora bracelet was on my hand which was there. I heaved a sigh of relief.

Finally, to top it off, I put on pale blue slippers and hobbled down to the hangout room. Where my day was greeted by an ear-splitting scream from Hannah.

Five more years of this?

Great.

I am too young to be deaf, you know.

I covered my ears and cringed as Hannah freaked out and sputtered, **"Mikan! What do you mean you do not have a whole wardrobe full of clothes!"**

I cringed and replied, **"Hey, I am not rich. And back there I wasn't Special Star, okay? So that meant I didn't have all the money I wanted to blow."**

She paused and said, **"So what star ranking were you?"**

I sheepishly replied, **"Well, before I discovered my paired alices, all I had was Nullification. And Nullification Alice was the Special Ability type and the teachers always looked down on us. So they gave us the minimum required ranking badges enough for us to graduate. For elementary students, we needed a Single Star in order to go to Middle School division. So I was first a No-star in Elementary, then promoted to Single Star in Elementary. Then when I came into Middle School, I got my ranking to the Middle School requirements, a Double Star. But by the time I started Middle School, not long after did I transfer here, so….." **I trailed off.

"**So you didn't have enough money to buy the clothes you needed," **Hannah concluded for me.

"**Yeah. But sometimes I would save up, but my allowance was so little, that I couldn't possibly have enough for a spree even if I wanted. So I never had one. And I learned to live without it," **I finished.

"**Oh, I am so sorry I pounced on you! But Youichi is right! You need clothes to fill your closet. I know really good stores like Aeropostale, Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, etc. If you do not know what those stores are, they are apparel stores, but the best of the best. They are very popular. And I think you need a huge load from those stores." **Hannah exclaimed.

I gulped.

"**I know you do not have any money, so this is my treat! You don't have to pay me back, allright? Chill! And after we get your casual clothes shopping done, tomorrow, we will do the formal attire shopping! Yes, complete with shoes!" **Hannah exclaimed again.

I nodded, while sweatdropping.

Hannah pulled her purse with her, and made sure she had her big bills in her wallet. And she said she had some huge gift cards to the apparel stores she told me about, so she didn't mind treating me.

Mike and Youichi were about to follow us, when Hannah looked back on them and glared.

Both of them cringed back at the sight of the Ice Queen. _Kind of reminds me of Hotaru…_

"**Mike, Youichi, don't follow. This is a day for only Mikan and me! You two can learn to get along," **She said icily.

"**O-okay," **the both of them said stammering.

"**Good boys," **Hannah sang, as she yanked my hand and started for the door.

"**Hey Mikan, I bet just like Gakuen Alice has their own shopping town, we have one too! We call it the Academy Mall! And since we can't go to the outside until we graduate or lose our alices, they have all of the stores from the outside in the mall. So we will be walking there and shopping there, allright?" **Hannah asked.

I nodded. This felt weird. Doing something girly. Shopping.

**Normal POV**

But it felt fun. Hannah pulled Mikan through Aeropostale first for the brightly colored Tee's, jackets and mini-shorts. She dragged Mikan to Hollister for the swimsuits, mini dresses, denim vests, denim skirts, boots, sandels, high heels, flip-flops, peep-toed dress flats, leg hugging jeans, and leg hugging jeans with a few decent rips. She then made Mikan run to Abercrombie & Fitch for the heavily furry hoodies, and winterwear.

Hours and hours flew by, and Mikan grew to admire Hannah's amazing sense in fashion.

Now what seemed to be a mountain of shopping bags was becoming difficult to carry back to the condominium of those four.

Hannah, on the other hand was carrying half the load and was skipping toward their half. And Mikan sweatdropped.

They opened the door.

"**We're home! Did you miss me?" **Hannah sang.

"**Ah, this day is done!" **exclaimed Mikan, sinking to the floor.

"**Not yet!" **Hannah smacked Mikan's head with a newspaper roll. **"We have to file in your clothes in your wardrobe and we STILL are going to shop tomorrow! For formal clothes! Come on!"**

"**But aren't you two tired? Have something to eat! You two must be worn out!" **Mike protested.

"**Nah, it is allright! We are having fun, aren't we, Mikan?" **Hannah asked Mikan. Mikan gave a small smile and nodded. Youichi turned beet red when he saw Mikan's innocent smile.

"**K! We will be in Mikan's room, putting her stuff away for her," **concluded Hannah.

The two hurried upstairs. Hannah and Mikan worked for hours on separating and putting the pants, shorts and skirts on one side of the wardrobe, and the tops on the other side of the wardrobe (do know that there is a separate wardrobe for the uniform only). Hannah put the hoodies with the tops and the winterwear on either side, whether it was a top or a bottom.

Then the two went to the shoe wardrobe, another separate wardrobe with shelves and the two spent 10 minutes on pulling off tags that bound the shoes together, and put them on the shelves. Mikan's clothes were mostly calm colors. Predominant colors for her tops and blouses and dresses were emerald green, sky blue, flashing violet, and royal blue (her favorite color). But some dresses and tops were bright colors because Hannah insisted.

On the remaining shelves they put the fingerless leather gloves, stylish belts, caps, berets, bangles, anklets, and much more on the bottom.

The two finally stepped back and Hannah admired how filled her large closet looked. **"Finally. You have a filled closet. Now you are officially not poor."**

Mikan gave a look of defeat. The two girls came down the stairs, tired from the work. There was some leftover pasta in the fridge. The girls warmed it up and ate it.

Then after changing into her previous night's pajamas, Mikan yawned and stretched. **"I guess we can call it a day. We should get some rest. Tomorrow is gonna kill me, right Hannah?" **She gave a teasing grin, to signify she is kidding.

Hannah gave a sweet smile and replied in agreement, and agreed with Mikan, teasingly warning her to be prepared to expect the same kind of day for tomorrow.

Mikan half-snorted and made her way to her room.

But the same thing happened to her.

Silent drops wet her bedsheet. She stayed like that as she cried silently for Hotaru, Natsume, Ruka, Permy, Anna, Nonoko, Koko and Kitsu, the friends that had said such cruel things about her.

**Mikan's POV**

This searing pain in my chest made my silent sobs turn into soft, ragged breaths.

I gasped. I heard someone get up.

But I know it wasn't Hannah.

Because this person had the will to open the door whether I liked it or not.

This person roughly shoved aside my bed's canopy veil. This person loomed over my small figure sitting on my knees.

This person had the power to increase my adrenaline.

This person had climbed over my bed and inched closer and closer to me. This person managed to make my heartbeat stop for a second.

"Youichi," I whispered. "What are you doing here?"

I gasped for air as two strong arms encircled my waist and pulled me against him. "Because you were lonely," he murmered.

I sucked in my breath as he did something different than last night. Instead of my neck, he sucked on my bare earlobes, alternating every minute. And his arms that were tight around my waist slipped under my T-shirt and repeatedly made circles on my belly to feel the smoothness of the skin and once again my slight curves.

His legs were outstretched in a circle loop to prevent from me from fleeing the scene. Like I would. I already found out yesterday that when he latches onto me, he doesn't let me go, and just makes his grip onto me even tighter.

"Youichi, what is all the meaning of this? Why do you hug me the moment we meet? Why do you swear to protect me? Why do you promise to stay with me? Why, why, why?" I quavered.

His arms left me, and I thought I would lose my happiness if he left me in my dark place, I would shatter apart, and I can't risk that. I can't risk being hurt again.

But he still stayed there. He turned me around so that I face him. I looked down so that I don't have to look in his eyes.

But he brought his hands to my cheeks and tilted them toward them to his face and brought it in for a deep kiss.

Deep kiss.

Lasted 10 minutes to me.

But it seemed to soothe me as well as my other one.

We broke it, and he made me looked me in the eyes and I looked into his. His weren't filled of rage and possessiveness, like how Natsume would be when I wouldn't comply with his demands.

Rather they were filled with sadness and worry.

He was worried about me.

Maybe because of the thought of me thinking about_ them _again.

But he understood what it meant to lose the people who loved you. He understood what it meant to be hurt by the very same people you call friends.

"Mikan, I do this because I love you."

I sadly smiled. "Nice to know that you care."

"No! Not like a friend, or a really close friend. Mikan, the first time I saw you, the moment I saw you walk out of that car, I sensed you held a past that hurt and harmed you. I sensed you were wounded by something or someone.

"When I heard the MSP's story and your own story on your past, my suspicions were confirmed. You share this same heaviness on your heart as I do. And as I saw you break down, I felt shattered, shocked that you have to go through this. But what surprised me is that you tried to wipe your tears and swap it for smiles so that the rest of us wouldn't worry. In an instant, you drew me to you. I fell hard, and nobody had ever in my life made me feel this way, never. But you did the impossible."

I widened my eyes. Did he…?

"But I heard about how Natsume threw you away, and knew right off the bat that you had a broken heart from your last encounter with him. And I am sorry he doesn't want you to be in his life. But I hope that you can return my feelings. Even if it takes you time, think about it. But at least let me be the one to be by your side, protecting you from harm and keeping you safe. I hope I can teach you to smile everyday and not feel guilty about what your other friends in Japan did to you. But here you have new friends all of us in DA, and I hope I can become more than just a friend to you. And when you go into school, people will extend their arms wanting you to be their friends. So let the past go and embrace the present, Mikan. Do not feel horrible for the past, because what happened wasn't your fault." Youichi finished.

I was shocked. He loved me? It makes sense, but how did it happen so fast? How did I fall in love so fast?

I looked up into his emerald eyes, which mesmerized me. And told him my feelings for him.

"I-I love y-you too, Youichi," I sobbed, while looking straight in his eyes, "I really, really do." It was the truth. I thought that after Natsume threw me away, I would never be the same. But Youichi proved me wrong. He loves me, and now, and his gentleness, and willingness fits mom's last words.

Maybe he is the right one for me.

**Youichi's POV**

She said it.

She loves me too. I feel so light I could see the heavens shine down onto me.

I hug her tightly, which surprised her, but she responded after seconds.

"I'm glad, Mikan. I am so happy; do you know how happy you made me when you said you loved me, too?"

"And did you know how light you made me feel when you said you loved me?" She whispered.

I smiled at her and stroked her hair gently back.

I laid her down on the bed and drew the covers on us. I held her close to me as I wrapped an arm around her waist, forcing her face to lean in my chest.

She said she loved me.

And now, I will protect her.

NEXT MORNING – still Youichi's POV

Sunshine danced, birds chirped, and everything felt light to me.

Maybe because the love of my life accepted my feelings last night. I just hope I can make her stronger than her current state.

I smiled upon her gaze, her cute chibi face, now tear free, breathing soft breaths against my chest. I had the urge to play with her short hair, and gave into my cravings.

I played with large tufts of her ember-colored auburn hair. It was short, silky, and slipped in my fingers, but not through my fingers. Thank goodness.

I heard her moan as she was rubbing her eyes awake.

She opened her marble orbs.

And they weren't dead colored whenever she was depressed.

They were filled with colors, highlights, and happiness. I saw her smile and blush at me once she remembered last night.

And then Hannah's shrilly voice broke us apart.

"Urgh," I complained. Hannah does know how to make someone lose their hearing for good.

But I was annoyed the time she yelled caused Mikan to break out of my grip.

Mikan noticed this, and apologized, "Sorry, Youichi, but she will kill me if I am not ready for gown shopping at the mall."

And she went to get ready. She came back with an Aeropostale turquoise V-neck short sleeved t-shirt, with AEROPOSTALE scrawled in cursive all the way down, on the right side vertically.

She wore Hollister ripped jeans, and furry boots that came from Hollister as well.

She looked pretty, gorgeous, and stunning no matter what she wore.

**Mikan's POV**

Youichi stood before as if he had never seen a girl before.

My god.

"C'mon," I whined, pulling his hand so that we can get out of my room. We actually managed to sneak out without the other two noticing.

"Whew! She didn't catch it." I relaxed.

"Well, it wouldn't matter anyways. Hannah and Mike sleep together a lot. So if she found out about the two of us, she might wish things well between us and warn me not to do perverted things," Youichi shrugged.

"Hmm. Nice to know, but I feel hesitant on breaking it out to her. I don't know her 100% YET. So her possible response, I do not know on how she will react!" I panicked.

"So then I will. I do not like keeping this a big secret. If we keep it like that for too long then it will explode like a volcanoes and you do not want to see that reaction then," he reasoned.

"Can you? When will you confess this news?" Mikan inquired.

"Now," Youichi stated. I groaned, which made him smirk.

"**Mikan! Youchi! Yo-chan, you pervert! What were you doing in Mi-chan's room last night?" **Hannah inquired Youichi.

"**How did you find out?" **he asked, voice close to shaking. I just widened my eyes.

"**Door was open." **Hannah concluded, **"Could see you two in there."**

Youichi facepalmed and I just stood frozen.

"**Heard your love confessions, too," **she said loudly.

"**OMG Yo-chan is in LOVE!" **Mike said, appearing out of nowhere, **"Guess that makes you two a pair of lovey dovey lovebirds, RIGHT?" **he pressured this question.

"**Yep," **I said, and he froze from my bluntness.

Hannah chuckled.

Youichi smiled before wrapping his arms around my waist and nuzzling his face in my neck, proving that we loved each other.

And Mike fell apart from that sight and practically freaked out. It took 30 minutes for Hannah to tone down Mike from his little tantrum.

But I didn't mind. To me it was 30 minutes of Youichi keeping me feel safe.

And to tell the truth, nobody ever made me feel this safe. And this is something I will entrust only to him, to be able to hug me around my curves, and lull me to sleep. Or even the right to come in my room (Except Hannah).

Hannah looked at her watch and exclaimed, **"Would you look at the time! Mikan we should get a gown for you! Oh wait! Make that three! And three pairs of formal shoes to go with them, because you never went dress shopping in your life!"**

I nodded reluctantly and followed. The boys were smart enough to take the cue that this is only girls' day shopping. But Hannah asked if the two needed to buy their own formal attire (suits), but the two responded that they already have them and ushered the girls to get going.

"**So, Mikan, what do you want the colors for your dresses to be, one for each gown we are going to buy for you," **Hannah asked.

"**Umm… royal blue, emerald green, and bright violet," **I said. I was silently hoping that Hannah wouldn't criticize my color preferances.

"**Cool, allright!" **Hannah exclaimed. Then she saw my relieved expression, and then answered me with, **"Don't worry. These dresses and shoes that I will get you today are your choices only. Do not worry about the prices. As long as you love the dress/gown is enough to make me feel happy." **She chirped.

"**Thanks," **I smiled back.

We went down to shopping. Hannah seemed to find the best dress boutique for gown shopping.

My dresses I chose:

First one was a strapless, wrap-textured royal blue dress with a long trailing end. The color from the top of the dress to the mid section of dress (waistline) was solid royal blue color. Then from the waistline to the end of the dress it slowly faded from royal blue to pure white. To match this dress, Hannah pressed me to buy this solid blue pumps that had 4-straps to strap in my heel.

My second one was an emerald one. It wasn't strapless, although the shoulders were visible. There were no real straps, but it was a long-sleeved and the dress went down a little past my knees, and the end of the dress flowed, the skirt wasn't body wrapped, but rather was loose, to flip and flounce if she were to twirl. She paired this up with high-heeled lemon colored sandals.

My final dress was a bright flashing violet dress. It was spaghetti strap, had a thin black belt around the waistline, and was poofy around the knees. It was kind of a part spaghetti strap dress, and a part tube dress. It was paired up with peep toe dark purple flats.

Finally done! Then I helped Hannah with her dress, and with much collaboration, she chose midnight blue tube dress and matched it with black high heels, which had little 3D roses on it.

When Hannah paid for our dresses and shoes, she had the dresses with their paired up shoes packaged in separate boxes, so that the other two don't get to glance at the dresses beforehand.

We walked back, me with three boxes, and Hannah with one.

We walked right in our house right after Hannah unlocked it.

**Normal POV**

The two girls walked in. Hannah was energetic, but Mikan was worn.

Mikan never shopped this much before. But she admired Hannah for treating her.

Hannah and Mikan put their boxes in their rooms and came downstairs.

"**SO! What do your dresses look like?" **Mike asked me.

"**Sorry. They are packaged," **I smirked, as he threw another temper tantrum. I have to admit. He is funny.

Youichi made his way to me and hugged me from behind. I smiled at him, too.

Then he asked me the same question, and I told him to go to Mike and ask the answer. He came back with an impatient face, and I laughed at his pout on his face.

"Gomen! Hannah told me to do that! Just wait for the day of the dance!" I laughed.

He hugged me and finally allowed me to keep it a secret.

"But I will still give you a present. But it will be a _secret_," he smiled.

I groaned, but complied with what he said. After all, I am keeping a secret from him.

That night, and the few nights followed, Youichi had come into my room to caress me until I went to sleep. But this time, I didn't lament over my past.

I felt that Youichi was right. I shouldn't feel so guilty about what happened to me in Japan.

That is just a past. However, I will never hate them. They are just a figment of my past. I do not even know whether to consider Natsume, Hotaru, and the others as friends or not.

But now, I have a new love.

And will have a lot more friends.

And I have a sister-like friend (Hannah) and a brother-like friend (Mike)

What more should I want?

**Sunday Night – Still Mikan's POV**

Hannah was a ball of energy.

Who wouldn't be surprised for the dance

But she came into my room, so we could get ready. I first took a bath to relax myself. Then I dried my hair, combed it out in a minute until it was beautiful and silky.

I slipped on my royal blue gown, and zipped up the zipper in the back.

I clicked on the royal blue pumps that came matching on.

I liked my short hair. That meant I didn't have to do my hair.

But Hannah made me find something in my closet to put in my hair.

Completing her wish, I looked in my accessory closet and found a dragonfly pin and slipped it in my hair.

Hannah loved it and pushed me to get my makeup done. She put a light pink blush on my cheeks to make it look like I was blushing. And she made me wear a faint pink lip gloss.

She made me wear my Pandora bracelet, because she felt it went with my dress.

And Hannah made me do her hair, for she was dressed. I looked at her long blonde hair and decided a dutch braid was good for her.

I did her hair from starting at the right side of her head. I braided until I used all the hair and continued in a normal braid. Sealing it all, I did a side bun by wrapping the braid and pinned it down with 5 pins. Finally, I clipped in a butterfly pin to complete the look.

Next with her makeup, I did a moderate pink blush, outlined her eyes to match the bold color of her midnight dress.

I did red full lips and topped it off with lip gloss to keep in the luster.

And we were done.

We walked outside

But to my surprise, Youichi and Mike weren't there in the living room.

Hannah read my mind and responded** "They are waiting for us in the School Gym, where the party will be held."**

I nodded my head and followed her as she nodded her head, and we made ways out of the house and to the Gym.

We came near the gym, and I saw Hannah run to Mike. I smiled and then yelped as two arms hugged me around my waist and lift me inches above the floor.

I was put down because I thrashed around a bit, but a face nuzzled itself in my neck and whispered, "You look beautiful, Mikan."

Before I could respond, a necklace was put around my neck. It was a gold chain with a blue stone. I was pretty sure it was, I guess, a sapphire.

"That is my birthstone, sapphire." He took pride in it, huh.

"Thank you so much," I breathed.

He took my hand and led me to the dance floor. Hours seemed to pass by. But all of them was special with him. I thought the world was going to end. But it didn't, like I thought it would.

But rather it filled me with surprises.

I was surprised Youichi refused to leave my side, and he absolutely objected me dancing with anyone else but him, which sounded possessive, but he just wanted to keep me safe.

Safe and sound out of sound's reach.

Then the Last Dance came. The Last Dance had the same ritual that whoever you choose to dance with is who you will spend forever with.

Until now, I danced it with Hotaru, against Natsume's wills. But I never danced it with a _guy _before.

So I let myself be freed from his grasp, thinking he might want to pick someone else to dance with. But he kept his hold on me.

I, wide-eyed, asked him if he was out of his mind. But he sincerely shook his head, and said that this was the first time he danced the Last Dance.

Other times when the Last Dance rolled around he would skip it. Tears of happiness rolled down my cheeks as I happily accepted his offer.

And the Last Dance lasted 10 minutes, the longest by far. And when I was done with the dance, I knew I was his.

And this was the thought that lingered in my mind as I fell into a deep slumber with Youichi protectively hugging me.


	5. The First Day

**GAKUEN ALICE – IN JAPAN**

The scene was dead. The light that had given everyone a life was now gone.

Rina chan was a lot darker than now and would refuse to talk to Mikan's previous friends, or else she would use her Barrier Alice to prevent them from getting near her and would slowly use her Bloodbending Alice (an alice which is closely related to Water Alice, an alice which is controlling the major form of water in your body (blood) and shape it in any shape the user of the dark and dangerous Alice wishes) to slowly torture them.

She hated out of all the people, Hotaru and Natsume. She hated Hotaru for one for kicking Mikan in her stomach and greatly injuring Mikan as well. She hated Natsume for cheating on Mikan. And even if Natsume really does love Mikan, over her dead body would she let that playboy rekindle with her one and only onee-chan.

_Rrrrrrrr-iiiiiiiiiiii-nnnnnnnnnn-ggggggggggggggggg ggggg!_

Rina chan was curled up in Yuu's lap. She stuck to Yuu because Yuu was the only one out of Mikan's friends who didn't hurt Mikan, and rather helped her feel better.

Now class was over. And Rina's most hated people were staring at her. Yuu, smiling at Rina only, said he had some responsibilities to take care of, and would be there to play with her in recess time. Rina gave a small nod and plopped off of Yuu's lap to let him go.

Yuu, giving a dead aura and a bone-chilling stare to Mikan's ex-friends, coldly strode out of the room before sliding the door loudly to make everyone jump 10 feet out of their feet, well except for Rina.

Rina, sitting on a top of a desk set a wide barrier around of her, and took out the Alice Stone necklace from under her uniform that Mikan gave her and played with it.

"Where did you get that, Rina?" Natsume asked, coldness, but curiosity mixing with his voice.

"Mikan-nee gave it to me," Rina simpered, ignoring Natsume's tone of voice.

"How did YOU get HER stone?" he inquired further.

"Because she loves me and not you. Well, I take that back. She did love you. Until you kissed that good of a nothing bitch. Now that bitch is gone, I feel so much better," she cooed, stretching back. (Do make a note that after Luna's treachery, she got expelled from Gakuen Alice, and is now being heavily guarded in a mental asylum in Australia, where her parents are moving her for the rest of her life I know that is harsh, but go with the flow).

"I _wonder_ what one-chan sees in a dreary person like you, baka-nii," she said, as her voice slithered.

That made Natsume fume, and he tried to charge toward the little girl, only to hit her barrier, and be hit into a wall.

"Why did Mikan leave us?" Hotaru asked.

That is when the little girl who kept her cool, snapped.

"You guys are so DENSE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU GUYS HURT HER FEELINGS? EVERYTIME I SAW MIKAN-NEE, SHE WAS SILENTLY CRYING. SHE WAS WHISPERING SHE WAS SORRY TO DUMBASSES LIKE YOU! YET YOU ALL JUST REMAINED WITH AIR REPLACING YOUR BRAINS, UNABLE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IS CAUSING HER HEALTH TO DETERIORATE! I BET SHE IS CRYING OUT IN AMERICA UNABLE TO SLEEP, ALL BECAUSE OF YOU, ALL BECAUSE OF YOU, BECAUSE THE REASON SHE IS CRYING IS THAT IN THAT ONE MOMENT, YOU ALL WILLED AND WISHED HER TO GO CRAWL IN A HOLE AND DIE!"

Rina had blood bent Hotaru in a painful position for asking such a question. And she let go, watching in pleasure as she saw Hotaru struggle to free her from her pain. Like Rina, Hotaru was crying.

But Hotaru was sobbing harder and harder than Rina, who was letting silent drops hit the desk. She let the necklace go back under her uniform, obscured from view, once again.

"I-I'm so s-s-sorry, R-Rina ch-chan! Please! I didn't know!" Hotaru wailed. Yes, she did wail. And Ruka, who had never seen Hotaru wail, held her and hugged her. But Hotaru struggled to face Rina, who had her back on her now.

"Easy for you to say that. Thanks to your brainless actions, I don't know when I will see Mikan onee-chan. You just had to take someone important away from me," Rina chan roughly shot back, looking at Hotaru with her piercing sky blue eyes. She then faced the door leaving Hotaru to look at Rina's milk chocolate shoulder length locks as Yuu opened the door.

"Rina! Mikan sent us the time on this Saturday when we can talk to Mikan! First time to use the webcam!" Yuu exclaimed.

Rina cheered.

"Webcam? She made one?" Hotaru whispered.

"Yes. But only for Rina chan and I to use. Since we weren't the ones who hurt Mikan, we have full rights to the webcam she invented. She even wired it in such a way that if you guys try to steal it, it will materialize into thin mist and re-appear in my hand. Rina chan can use it without it materializing into thin mist. But for anyone except us two, good luck getting in touch with Mikan face-to-face," Yuu retorted coldly before scooping up Rina chan.

"Yuu-nii, can you buy me howalon?" Rina asked. Howalon is something she entrusted only Mikan with doing, but she gave equal trust in Yuu now.

"Sure. I will get you a big box. Then we can go to the playground after we eat, all right?" Yuu replied, smiling sweetly to Rina, before leading her out.

Hotaru was half-shocked, half-sobbing.

Ruka's eyes watered as he regretted saying that he hated that Mikan had existed.

Sumire wanted to kill herself for being ruthless to Mikan, whom she considered her own sister.

The twins cried their eyes out, hating themselves for lying to Mikan to go disappear and die.

Koko and Kitsu bent their heads down in shock and even curled up to black out the outside.

Natsume was a mere shell of himself. Because he knew he was the one who deserved the most blame. If Mikan fell in love with someone else, it would be his own entire fault.

**Alice Academy America (Monday Morning)**

**Normal POV**

Mikan rolled up from her sleep. She broke from Youichi's arms and looked at the clock. Mmmm. 6:00 a.m.

Good way to start the day.

And it was the first day of school.

"Youichi, wake up. Don't want to be late for the first day of school, now do we?" Mikan teased.

"But it is only 6!" Youichi whined. Then he tried to hug Mikan again and roll back to sleep, but Mikan dodged his entwining arms and poked him in the stomach causing him to snap awake.

"No. Come on and go and get ready," Mikan insisted.

Youichi groaned, but complied and went to his room to go get ready.

Mikan took the winter uniform of the Middle School uniform, and changed into it.

Finally, she was tugging at the ribbon to make a perfect, neat bow, and slipped on her short white socks and black boots.

She nestled her Special Star pin on the outside collar of her blazer. She took her book bag which had her supplies in it, and walked in the living room.

Where she was greeted by Hannah running around in the room like a two-year-old.

Mikan went to Youichi, who was amusedly watching Hannah and inquired, "Why is Hannah running around like that?"

"First day she doesn't wear the elementary division uniform. You know, she is so excited. But I rather find this very amusing," Youichi laughed.

Mikan looked at him and saw that he was wearing his uniform correctly all the way except the ribbon, which hung loosely.

Mikan went over and fixed it. Youichi stiffened and blushed madly at her touch. She rolled her eyes as she continued to fix the ribbon. "You know, you should learn how to wear a ribbon properly," she softly teased, before giving him a peck on the cheek before going to Hannah.

"**Hannah? I think we should get going. It is 7:45 a.m. and doesn't school start around 8:05?" **Mikan inquired, looking at my phone's clock before slipping it away into my schoolbag.

"**OMG! WE ARE GONNA BE LATE! C'MON GUYS!" **Hannah yelped.

She smirked and followed her.

They left the house after locking it and headed to the school, and then to their homeroom class.

The teacher was outside, waiting for them.

"**Hello! You must be Mikan Yukihira! I have heard about you! My name is Nathan Smith, your English teacher! You other three, go right ahead! I will introduce Mikan to the rest of the class," **he said smiling at the other three.

The other three along with the teacher went inside and got seated/ready for class.

**Mikan's POV**

"**Hello students! I have something exciting to tell you today! You will be having a new transfer student from Alice Academy Japan! Please come on in!" **Mr. Smith urged me to come in. Ew, this person reminded me of Narumi-sensei, in his silly days.

I sucked in a breath, heaved out, and walked in. Immediately I heard words of awe at my beauty from the girls and words of longings from the boys who were wondering if I was single.

"**Hello, can you introduce yourself to us?" **Mr. Smith urged me again.

I nodded and flashed a radiant smile that left boys tripping out of their seats and girls blushing. **"My name is Mikan Sakura Yukihira. Just call me Mikan! It is an honor to meet you all!" **

"**Any questions for Ms. Yukihira?" **Mr. Smith asked.

A hand shot up, I nodded, and he asked, **"What is your alice?"**

"**Nullification and S.E.C.I. Alice," **I smoothly replied.

The class was confused.

"**Stealing, Erase, Copy and Insertion. But do not fear, I will not use it on you at all," **I concluded with a heart-stopping smile.

Another question. **"What is your alice shape?"**

"**Unlimited." **The class was shocked.

"**Star Ranking?"**

"**Special" **Big shock to them.

"**Alice stone color?"**

"**Mandarin Orange."**

"**Alice Ability Type?"**

"**Dangerous Ability."**

Stone silence.

I. Kept. My. Cool.

But I felt that they would hate me based on the answers that I gave. But on the contrary, it was the complete opposite.

"**Mikan, are you single?"**

"**Will you, like, marry me? PLEASE?!"**

"**You are so pretty!"**

"**Can we create a fan club for you?"**

"**Too late! We created it!"**

"**Can I be your best friend?"**

"**Would you like to go out?"**

"**Can you tell me your phone number? Please? Please? Please? Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaassssssseeeeeee?"**

"**What about where you live?"**

The questions would have drowned me, and completely twitch Youichi in jealousy as he saw boys ask me out.

The teacher managed to save my life, and he told the class that they should quiet down, as class should be starting now.

I was directed to sit next to Youichi, and I smiled a smile of relief when I finally slumped down in my seat.

During homeroom period, Youichi came over to talk to me.

"Didn't expect you to become so famous in just one short day," He began.

"Yeah. Now I have a FAN club, dammit!" I softly pouted.

"And they just can't wait to follow you around, now," He slightly amused to himself, meaning for me to hear.

I rolled my eyes, and then shooed him away, persisting that I want to get my homework done.

He didn't budge, a sign of genuine protection, and said he would sit next to me as I do my homework.

I began my homework, silently hoping my Math, Science, English, and History homework was large so that I can keep my hairs from standing up as he just watches me do my work, silent as a stone.

It is quite a load, but considering that I do exceptionally well in my subjects, even back in Gakuen Alice, I was sadly done with the four loads of homework in half an hour, now knowing that statue is still as ever.

I tucked away my homework that is due tomorrow into my bag, and my pencil/eraser in my pencil case, eventually packing up my stuff, and shook Youichi out of his little trance.

I eyed him, and inquired, "Don't you have to get your homework done as well?"

"I was long done with it. I finished it during class time," he smoothly answered.

"Then find something to do. You do realize that when you were watching me do my homework, I was kinda freaked out when you looked at the back of my neck," I retorted.

"So it is a sin to watch you do homework? It is considered doing something, you know." He drawled.

"I prefer a nice, quiet place _without _someone counting the hairs on my head," I smoothly countered.

He was silent, and I knew this was his signature look of ultimate defeat. I smiled sweetly, before turning around on my heels, calling over my shoulder, "Come on! It's lunch time! I'm gonna catch up with Hannah!"

Spinning on my heels, I didn't wait to see if Youichi bothered to catch up with me or not. But I smirked when I heard pattering footsteps that grew louder.

And louder.

Until an arm grabbed me back so I was walking right next to Youichi. I winced as he retained a steady grip on my arm, slowly increasing how tightly he grabbed onto the middle of my right arm, like how a child clings to a mother.

And the walk to the cafeteria was agonizing.

Boys drooled at my direction, and some girls shined their eyes on me. The same went for Youichi, how the girls drooled over his presence.

And it felt sickening. No matter Natsume and Ruka had a hard time handling those obnoxious fans. I have to admit, it kind of is annoying. But I felt happier that I cared less and less for _those people _who backstabbed me in Japan.

I thought the line was going to be long.

But it turns out that Special Star students are kinda rare in this academy (just like Gakuen Alice), so it took no time to get a huge lunch and sit down with Hannah and Mike, and the other handful of students from the other divisions who have the same star ranking as us.

"**Mikan! Hey! So how do you like school?" **Hannah pressed.

I sweatdropped at her enthusiasm, but answered her question, "**Not bad. I feel more accepted here, although I got a fan club against my own will."**

**Hannah's POV**

"_**I'm glad, Mikan, that you are feeling better. Although Alice Academy America might not replace Gakuen Alice, I hope that you feel more open here. One day, my wish is to get revenge on those oh-so-backstabbers that pushed you to your limit," **_I sadly thought.

Mike noticed my sadness, and stroked a hand on my head, once lunch was over and we were walking toward a park.

"**What is it, Hannah? Why are you feeling down?" **Mike asked, softly, so that I don't break out into a million sobs.

But instead, silent tears stroked its way down my cheek. I put on a sad smile and sat on a bench. Mike followed, but didn't take his hand off my head.

"**That girl, Mikan. She was pretty hurt back there in Japan, huh?" **I suppressed a sob.

Mike slipped his other hand around my shoulder and leaned in closer, almost like a hug.

"**I guess so. But the best thing for us to do is to let her find her happiness. She has been here only a week. You can't expect her to open up, especially that horrible treatment she has experienced, with the deaths of her dear ones and the rudeness of her so-called friends. I know it is hard. But the best thing that can help her right now is let her grow out of her shell and open up like a flower. Earn her trust, and don't shatter it like how those idiots did. Don't use it for your benefit, but rather cherish it and keep it as a blessed memory. And always be there for her to confide some of her worst moments into," **he softly concluded.

I gasped. But he was right about that.

Whatever Mikan had suffered was terrible.

But she needs time to heal herself and then trust us, slowly by slowly, and fall in love again, bit by bit.

And I decided, not to let this girl see any darkness ever again.

And this feeling felt weird. I never cared about anyone except the DA, and although she is in the same ability class as me, I care for her for reasons other than that.

Because this is the first time I have ever cared for anyone voluntarily.

I sadly smiled at the thought.

Sometimes fate brings with you with another person. And in the process of taking care of this person, you learn that although the person changes, you change as well.

And I never thought someone would open my doors to kindness.

Ever.

Mikan really is precious.

**Normal POV (shift to Mikan and Youichi)**

(After afternoon classes PE, Art, and Music)

"Phew! What a day! Glad I finished my homework!" Mikan exhaled.

"Yeah…." answered Youichi, suspicion filling his voice.

They reached the house, and Mikan unlocked the door with the duplicate key that Hannah gave.

They went in and Mikan locked the door, and came to the living room, where they sat down.

Youichi couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Mikan, what happened to you back _there_?" he asked.

"I told you. They said they didn't want to see my face ever again. Specifically, they wished for me to die, because of how annoying I was, always clinging to them," Mikan's voice now wavered, "They're heartless! They don't even know my past, of how I watch the ones that were my life bleed to death! They don't know what it is like to lose everything! No! And the reason I clung to them was because if I let go, I might be pushed in a dark corner, I might be pushed to being alone again, the way I was before I met them. But as much as I tried to be with them, they pushed me once my use for them was utterly useless, saying they don't want me to talk to them ever again!"

Mikan curled up, crying, like how a little girl pines for someone.

Youichi instantly regretted it. But he wrapped his arms around her, and pressed his forehead to hers, intently looking into her eyes.

"Mikan, I'm sorry about what happened in your past. I am so sorry for the losses of the people you cared about. But I am in love with you, now and always. This love is the bond between us, and this bond is the bond I will protect. I will keep you safe, hug you when you need one, and talk to you when you need to. All of us will keep you safe and sound, and will become your family, people you can trust. I hope that you are willing to return my feelings as well, just like how you stated before."

Mikan allowed herself to look into his eyes. She saw that he had the intention of making her feel better again.

Maybe he could help her. She never knew what life brought sometimes. But here it is, bringing a new opportunity to start over life.

Mikan smiled through her falling tears and slowly replied, "I will never fall out of love with you. You know that, Youichi."

Youichi smiled and gave her a long kiss.

And the day followed after that, slowly, just the way Mikan wanted it.

When Hannah and Mike came home, the four had dinner, laughed together, and then went separate ways to their rooms.

Youichi followed Mikan to her room, and hugged her as she slept.

Only wishing her the brightest of the brightest future.

_Hiya! I am so sorry that I took SO LONG to update this chapter! But it is finally here!_

_I have some bad news, guys who are following me! I am going to another country to visit some family members, so I might have some difficulty typing a new chapter and posting it on there, as I do not want some random person hacking my account. Yeeeek! Scary._

_Anyway, guys come up with a girl name and a boy name! Because if I like your name choice, I might use it in my last chapter, which does a time skip in the future!_

_Please don't feel afraid to PM me your creative ideas! The deadline is before the contest rules on my personal profile page gets deleated._

_So don't hold back, and start PM'ing in your colorful ideas! Make sure the names are Japanese!_


	6. Return to Japan

**Gakuen Alice – Nearing onto Christmas**

It was nearing the end of the first semester of Gakuen Alice. Exams were being finished. Everyone had studied hard for the exams. The school year was quieter than usual since Mikan had left to go to America. Hotaru had seldom the need to talk to anyone. She absolutely wept all the time she was in her room. And outside her room, her face was always dead-like, and the cure to this sudden depression, would be Mikan coming back to her for good.

But that was never going to happen, since she was the one among the large crowd who drove her beloved best friend out of her own life.

Little does Hotaru know that Mikan will never be the same again.

The last exam of the last exam day was turned in by a kid who practically took up so much time to do his test.

The students slumped on their desks to sleep, and Jin-Jin couldn't do anything, for the kids successfully did his test. It would be way too cruel if he made them do more work.

Just then, Yuu Tobita was heaving a sigh of relief. He had become much colder since Mikan left. He only was kind to Rina, Mikan's upperclassmen, her little kindergarten admirers, and Mikan's uncle here in the school. He always had joy in chatting face-to-face with Mikan, once a week. Rina was overjoyed to see that her onee-chan is doing wonderfully.

And the door to the classroom opened and slammed open wide, to reveal Rina toddling in running toward Yuu in an excited mood.

"Yuu-nii! Yuu-nii! Guess what, guess what!" She squealed.

Yuu shook his head. "What is it?"

"Don't you know? Don't you know? Mikan-onee-chan is coming here for two weeks of Christmas break and for the Christmas party!" Rina cheered.

The whole room was pin drop silent when they heard Mikan's name.

When they heard she was coming, several gasps came from the room.

Natsume, Ruka, Hotaru, Sumire, Koko, Kistu, Anna, and Nonoko leaned in, interested, hoping that they can hear more details about Mikan's arrival.

Rina turned around and gave a icy glare to the rest of the classroom, even innocent kids and snapped, "What do you want, you lowlifes? Mikan is only coming back to see Yuu-nii and I. Not you nincompoops. Get lost," she muttered darkly.

Natsume came over to Rina, holding back all the temptation to try and strangle her in her sleep and asked in her steady voice, "Is she really coming? When is she arriving?"

"Not gonna tell a stupid pea-brain like you. After all, the last thing she needs is another backstabbing by you and your little dogs," Rina sneered, narrowing her eyes at Natsume.

Natsume snapped. "Why you little..."

Rina rolled her eyes at Natsume and flipped her back to him and turned to Yuu, eyes shining again.

"Ne, ne, nii-chan! Did you also hear? Mikan found a boyfriend! I heard his name is Youichi! Such a nice name! She emailed me the picture and told me her story in an email she wrote to me! Waa! They make a cute couple, don't you think?"

With that, she handed the picture she printed out of the email to Yuu.

Yuu smiled. "Yes, they are cute together. Let's go get a nice gift for Mikan as a welcome present, shall we?"

"Yes! Oh, and by the way, can we go to the Howalon shop? And then the park?" Rina asked.

"Yes, yes, of course!" Yuu laughed.

Rina cheered, and asked Yuu to give her a piggyback ride to the Central Town. Yuu happily agreed and the two of them went out of the classroom.

The rest of the class was stone silent. Natsume couldn't believe it.

His love, a smily little girl who had her hair in pigtails and a part in her bangs.

The one who latched onto Hotaru.

The one who loved Howalon.

The one who bothered Natusme.

The one who teased Ruka until he went completely red in the face.

The one who never cried, but rather laugh.

She is gone.

She is in America.

But now with another love.

_Later in the day..._

Yuu and Rina had gone into the classroom where Serina sensei was arguing with a couple of students about who got what role in the decorating committee.

He went over to sensei and asked for a break. She complied and Yuu asked Serina sensei to use her sight (complete with sound) alice to locate where Mikan was and project her on the wall, so Rina and him could see Mikan.

Serina sensei happily agreed, even commenting herself she missed her favorite cute student. Yuu smiled at the kind remark about Mikan.

After some while, the projection of Mikan came onto the wall and everyone dropped what they were doing to watch, especially Natsume and the others.

_The two girls were coming back to their condominium with boxes of dresses and shoes._

"_**Hannah! You promised me those three dresses were enough~~~" **Mikan whined._

"_**No it isn't. Those other two dresses are too casual! And you wore the royal blue one already! This mint-green dress I got for you is only for the Christmas Party in Japan! Boy I can't wait to go there!" **Hannah happily dreamed._

_Mikan broke Hannah's dream bubble and said, **"Have you started your Japenese like I asked you?"**_

"_**No..." **Hannah whimpered._

"_**Gaah, allright. I will find a way to create a device so that you and Mike can speak Japanese, okay?" **Mikan wearily gave in._

"_**Yes! Yes! Yes! Mikan you are the best! But what about Youichi? Doesn't he need one as well?" **Hannah asked._

"_**No. Like me, his Japanese is perfect. He doesn't need one," **Mikan sighed._

"_**No way! Man he is lucky!" **Hannah whined._

"_**Isn't he," **Mikan sarcastically agreed._

_Hannah pouted, and the two opened the door._

_Mikan stated that she wanted to finish up her packing in her room and hurried with her dress and shoe pair to her upstairs._

_She closed the door behind her and slumped down._

"_Japan, eh? Ahhhhh, I wonder how much it has changed," she breathed._

'You do not know how much I want you to come back to me," Natsume thought. 'I truly regret my actions.'

_Mikan had cupped her face in her knees, hugging her knees as if she were a child being about to be beaten._

'Mikan, what happened to your hair?' thought Hotaru, 'did you cut it because of my mean actions? Please come back, I do not mean what I said to you.'

_Mikan undid her huddled position to reveal her tear-stained face._

_She silently sobbed as she packed her belongings. After she tucked her mint-green dress and mint-green sandals away in her bag, she took her photo of her mom and dad and her, which was sitting on her night stand. She curled up on the floor crying._

_Youichi unlocked her door to see if she was done packing and gasped when he saw Mikan crying._

"_Mikan? Mikan? Mikan, what is wrong?" Youichi asked, hugging Mikan._

This got on Natsume's nerves. Oh god was he ready to murder this guy.

_Mikan shook her head and showed her photograph of her family to Youichi._

"_Oh is that your parents? Are they in Japan? Don't worry, you will get to see them soon," Youichi assured._

_Mikan sobbed even harder._

"_No? You don't want to see them?" Youichi asked, nodding his head._

_Mikan shook her head._

"_Then what is the problem?" Youichi inquired._

"_I wish I could see them. They are dead. They died in a car crash. Christmas day will mark the 7th anniversary of their not being on Earth!" she said, through hiccups._

The whole classroom was pin drop silent.

They never knew that Mikan shared a huge burden upon her tiny shoulders.

For seven long years, even.

"_I'm so sorry Mikan. I never knew that you had such a heavy feeling glooming over you, especially for the past seven years. But you have me, to confide your fears into, all right?" Youichi asked, sadly smiling at her._

_Mikan sobbed a little, but gave in, nodding a little._

_She was so worn out, from the sobbing over her parents's deaths that she slumped unconscious onto Youichi._

_He carried her bridal-style to the bed and tucked her in before coming under the covers with her, hugging her close as well._

_And with that, the two were asleep, soundly._

Serina sensei, was getting too emotional, so she cut off the projection. She couldn't take it anymore and she buried her head in her palms.

Rina wailed as well and Yuu hugged her and tried singing her a lullaby.

"Come on, Rina. Mikan wants you to smile. Let's go eat Howalon first before going to get Mikan-chan a gift, all right?" Yuu kindly asked Rina.

Rina sniffed, but nodded her head, and took Yuu's hand before walking out the classroom with Yuu.

**America – The next morning**

Mikan rolled over in the bed, unknowing what happened the last night. Of course, Youichi's presence wouldn't tell her what happened last night, but he had a tendency to hug her tightly as if she were a teddy bear when she had another breakdown.

And she woke up to find herself tightly hugged by Youichi, and Mikan knew she must've caused another breakdown which resulted in this.

Then she remembered.

She was weeping over the loss of her parents when Youichi came over, and tried to find out what happened. She must've figured that he forgot that she told him that her parents were already dead.

Youichi was waking up.

"Hey," she said.

"Hello. Feeling better?" He asked, filled of worry.

"Yes, now I am. But I told you once I came to America that I lost my parents. Why did you ask if they were still in Japan?" Mikan inquired.

"I guess I forgot the most important details in the most critical timing, huh?" he suppressed a frown.

"Huh?" Mikan asked. She wasn't getting any of this.

"I forgot the fact that you have no parents, then inquired you where are they. That only made you cry harder because when something hurts the most, like this past, asking about it only makes the pain worse," he stated.

"Oh. But you didn't cause me any pain. I was just in a blur to notice anything, like the fact that I told you that I had no parents, before," Mikan explained, "I was just lamenting over my loss of my own parents."

"Ah, I see..." Youichi trailed off.

"Ah! Look at the time! It is 9:00 a.m.! Hannah is so going to kill me! Get ready! We need to be at the airport by 10! The plane leaves at 11!" exclaimed Mikan, shoving Youichi towards his room.

He grunted, but complied and went off to get ready.

Mikan dressed, grabbed her luggage. Her right wrist had her Pandora bracelet.

She had the two language translator devices that would make it seem to everyone else that Hannah and Mike can speak perfect Japanese.

For Hannah, it was a gold charm bracelet that had little peacock feather charms. For Mike, it would be an earring, small and unnoticeable, in the place of the alice restraining device (earring) that he would usually wear.

Mikan walked out. She spotted Hannah, and went up to her and handed her her language device.

"**Awwwwww! Mikan you shouldn't have! How much was it?" **Hannah asked, oblivious that it wasn't a gift.

"**Hey! I put a spell on it that will help you understand, speak, read and write Japanese during your stay in Japan. Once you come back, the spell will wear off, and it is just a mere bracelet. You can keep it when we come back. It is real gold, and the charms are as well the same. Wear it once we step into Japan. If you wear it now, then the spell will only work in Japan. This is a once time spell, so this spell works for one time in one place for as long as you like. As soon as you leave the place, then the spell is worn off, and then another spell will have to be casted on the device to make it useful again," **Mikan explained.

Hannah mouthed a thank-you, for she was only interested in the bracelet, and how it was hers when the four of them come back.

"**For Mike, he is getting a small earring which I have wired to look identical to his alice-restraining device. Don't worry, when we come back, you can have him throw away the earring and wear his original so that it won't look like I am giving him a gift," **Mikan teased.

Hannah heaved a sigh of relief, as she had that fear of her boyfriend being taken away.

Mikan rolled her eyes, and gave the earring for Hannah to give Mike. She told Hannah the same instructions for Mike to keep the device in the box until they reach the airport in Japan, when he can finally put the device on.

Mike came and Hannah did as she was told. Mike nodded and put it in his pocket, for later wear.

Youichi came out of his room with the luggage, and the four were ready.

A sleek black limo came in front of the condominium, and the four loaded their stuff on the limo before climbing in.

'I wonder how much I have changed. I mean the tough missions have helped me become stronger, but have I become stronger emotionally?' Mikan wondered as the limo sped off to the airport.

They got to the airport, and Mikan looked back behind her, to the beautiful America that had been a home for her when she thought there was no will to live anymore.

These were the places she had remained while she tried to heal her broken heart.

And Mikan promised to herself, she will be back.

Youichi noticed the uneasiness of his love, and gave her a hug.

"Afraid of going back? Back to the place where you were hurt?" he asked, in an understanding tone.

"Maybe. But Rina, Yuu, Uncle, Shiki-san, Imai-senpai, Sakurano-senpai, Tsubasa-senpai, Misaki-senpai, my former Special Abilities Class, and my teachers want to see me. So I can't turn them down," Mikan tearfully replied.

"Seems likes that the number of haters you have, you have the equal number of admirers as well," Youichi observed.

Mikan half-smiled. They were nearing the gate of 91, the flight that will take them to Tokyo, Japan. The four of them sat down.

It was still 30 minutes to departure time.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. I don't want to feel sorry about leaving them. It makes me feel like I was the one who did the horrible deed, not them, when it was in reality the other way around," Mikan breathed, "But I am glad that when I came here to America, you were the one to comfort me," Mikan turned to smile at Youichi.

Youichi smiled back. He was glad Mikan was aware of his feelings for her, and returned them back.

Then it was time to board.

They got on the plane, Mikan taking a swift look back before walking with her other DA friends.

They sat down on the plane, and the plane took off, for a long flight home.

**Tokyo Airport**

"Rina! Rina! Look Mikan will be here in a few minutes. You should stop crying tears of joy or else she will think you do not want to see her!" Narumi-sensei reasoned with Rina.

Yuu Tobita the cold class rep for class 2B, warmly smiled at Rina and nodded in agreement with Narumi-sensei.

The gates opened to the passengers from America, and Mikan along with her friends came out of the gate, along with other passengers.

"Mikan-onee-chan! Mikan-onee-chan! I missed you so much! Can you carry me?" Rina squealed.

Mikan laughed, and agreed. Scooping up Rina with one hand and carrying her luggage with the other, she proceeded to Narumi-sensei and Yuu.

"Yuu! Hey! How are you?" Mikan gave a radiant smile.

"Who is he?" Youichi gave a suspicious stare at Yuu.

"Oh hello! You must be Youichi! Don't worry! I am one of Mikan's best friends! I am also the class rep of her former class, class 2B," Youichi smiled at Youichi and the others, "my name is Yuu Tobita."

"Oh, okay! Allright. I heard that Mikan was backstabbed in Japan? Was that in your homeroom class?" Youichi whispered into Yuu's ear.

Yuu coldly nodded, hearing at the mentioning of the 'others'. "I will tell you later about it. Let's take you to Gakuen Alice, allright?"

Youichi nodded. Mikan sweat-dropped and asked Youichi, "Just what are you planning?"

"Hehe! Nothing! Just a murder, nothing more!" Youichi tried to smile away his dark side, which would bring ghosts out and scare innocent people.

"Oh god this person," Mikan muttered, so that Youichi and Rina wouldn't hear.

"Youichi-nii-chan! Can I help you?" Rina asked with dark specks swimming around in her sky blue eyes.

"Of course, Rina! Glad to know that you would like to help me!" Youichi patted Rina's head.

Mikan went over to Hannah and Mike and muttered for them to put on their devices. Hannah took the cue, and slipped on her bracelet, and Mike took off his alice-restraining device and put on his translator denice.

Then Narumi-sensei whisked for them to go in the black limo that was waiting for them outside the airport.

In one hour, they were at the school.

Narumi-sensei opened the gates for them, and the four of them went inside.

Narumi gave four gues bedrooms to each of the visitors, and Mikan excused for her to walk around the school.

Youichi didn't want to let her go, but Yuu promised to tell him a certain secret if he came with him. Youichi finally relented in letting Mikan going alone.

**Mikan's POV**

I walked toward the middle school building, where middle school students were walking and talking about, putting up their stuff and not to see them for another two weeks.

I heard mutters and horrified whispers as I walked by, as if my presence was a nightmare.

I strode confidentaly through the halls and didn't mind the students who were gawking at me, like think if it was really me.

And it was.

I went past the students in my own former class. Natsume, Hotaru, Ruka and the others started to follow me.

I even had the temptation to teleport myself to the Special Abilities Class.

I suddenly stopped and coldly turned around to them.

"What do you want?" I snapped. No way was I going to cave in to their fake whining.

"M-mikan? I am so happy you are here!" Hotaru yelped and tried to hug me, but I stiffened, signaling for her not to touch me at all.

I narrowed my eyes at her, glaring at her as tears dripped from her eyes. What an act they are putting on for me. "Don't even think about hugging me, or better yet, touching me," I glowered.

Hotaru loudly sobbed, and Ruka came there to hug her. Ugh, stupid lovebirds.

"Sakura-san? Why are you like this?" Ruka tearfully asked.

"Mikan I am so sorry for slapping at you!" Sumire tried to hug me. I shot her a glare and she backed up.

"We're sorry for saying your existance was a nuisance," the twins cried.

Koko and Kitsu had nodded their heads and gave in their apologies as well.

And last of all, Natsume tried to hug me and kiss me, but I was strong these six months of being away, and easily broke out of his arms.

It was funny, because as much as I tried, my heart didn't burn with love for Natsume. I really believed mom more than ever, and her words drove me to a better fate.

Maybe Natsume is not worth it. The words proved it.

"Don't hug me and kiss me like you are my boyfriend, moron," I snapped at him.

"But we are!" Natsume snapped as well.

"No we are not. You think so. I heard that you did this because Luna asked you to do this. Do you know I can nullify her Alice? Do you know that if any of you get affected, I could just steal the black mark out of you? No! You idiots didn't! You thought this would save me, but it didn't! Do you know how much this affected me?" I cried, now shedding my own tears.

Their eyes widened, and since those shell-of-nothings did nothing (as described in their new-name) I continued, finishing the stupid story for them.

"You good-for-nothing morons do not know what kind of background I came from! When I was three, I lost my both parents in a car crash. It was even more lamentable, because their very first wish when I was born was that the three of us could be a family! Then my adoptive grandfather died when I was six! I had a third adoptive family and by the time I was ten I was moved to Gakuen Alice when Narumi-sensei found out that I was an Alice. I then met you. I met all of you, and gave into your request for all of us to be friends! Did you know that before I came here, people knew I had powers and I got daily death threats from kids my age and older? No you guys had no interest to know what I had on my shoulders my whole life. I thought you all were different from all of the people in my life! That is why I gave into your requests to be friends. And now, without a second thought, you backstabbed me! You lowlifes are nothing different than the other people who tried to kill me and hurt me! This is why I hate all of you!" I sobbed, finishing my story, leaving them in complete shock.

"Mikan, we're sorry-" Natsume tried to comfort me, but Youichi came running into the halls.

"Mikan! What happened? You're crying? Why? Are _these _the people who hurt you here?" Youichi asked me, sending glances at the unknown people.

His glances turned into glares when he felt me nod a yes to his question.

"You, all of you, better keep a safe distance away from her. If I hear that you tried to lay a finger on her, I will make you pay BIG time," Youichi said, leveling his glare.

"Back off, you're not her boyfriend, I am," Natsume gave off a glare to Youichi.

"Who are you to say that? Conceited idiot!" Youichi threw back a verbal threat.

I whispered to him, "Youichi, that is Natsume. He cheated on me before I came to America. He still tries to own me like I am a piece of his property. He gives me the so-called name of 'girlfriend' but he just wants to own me so that he can use me," I concluded, in a shaky tone. I was scared that Natsume might try to rip apart my relationship with Youichi, now that I loved him.

Youichi sent a death glare to Natsume, and screamed out, "Why you-!" And scary ghosts came out as a result of Youichi from becoming angry. They surrounded my former friends scaring the lives out of them.

I felt a bit of pity for them because I didn't come here to kill them. That would be so cruel and inhumane. I just wanted for them to feel guilty for what they did to me.

"Youichi! Please stop! You are even scaring me as well!" I cried, covering my ears.

"Oh I'm so sorry, Mikan," Youichi said in a worried tone, vanishing the ghosts.

"That's okay. Can we go to my former Special Abilities Class? I want to see them, they probably miss me!" I smiled at Youichi.

"Okay, sure. Why not? You can go on ahead. I want to meet your uncle, if that is allright with you?" asked Youichi.

"Hm, sure!" I laughed. Youichi walked into another hall that would lead to Uncle's office.

I started walking on ahead, and my stupid little former friends started to follow me, Natsume especially.

I broke out into a run, to keep a safe space between us, and then when there was a huge gap between us, since the others are way slower than me in running, I teleported to the Special Abilities classroom.

It took some time, so before Natsume could grab my hand so he could teleport with me, I vanished, with him screaming my name. Too bad that I won't forgive him.

I teleported to the front of the Special Abilities room, and walked in, to see the whole class gloomy and sad, with Nodachhi trying to teach the lesson.

"Mikan!" Tsubasa-senpai tried to hug me. I was enveloped in a bear hug.

"Hi... nice to... see you... again?" I tried to make out.

Then a minute later, Tsubasa-senpai was hit square on the head by Misaki-senpai, who was jealous that my first hug was stolen.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I get to hug Mikan-chan first! Mou, not fair, her first hug is stolen!" Misaki-senpai fumed.

I laughed. Misaki-senpai is one of my favorite senpais here in Gakuen Alice. I opened my arms to hug her and said, "But I am ready for my second one! Hehe, just for you!"

She immediately melted at this, and accepted the hug, when I said 'just for her'. She hugged me even longer and tighter than Tsubasa-senpai did. But she let me go when she saw I was suffocating.

And then I was attacked by the rest of the students, most of them jumping up and down that I have come back.

Tsubasa-senpai said let's all go for soba noodles in Central Town, and everyone agreed. I laughed and nodded my head in pure agreement.

When we went toward the noodle shop, I saw Natsume and the others staring at the Special Abilities Class with wide eyes, but saw me there and tried to come towards me.

Misaki-senpai sent a death glare towards them and they stayed right where they were. "Oh not those stupid nincompoops again. Hurting MY little sister. Oh will I make them pay," she glared.

"Misaki-senpai? We are here at the noodle shop. Don't you want a bowl?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

"Oh? Okay! A large bowl for me and the same for you!" she exclaimed. I sweat-dropped.

"Oh don't worry! My treat, since you just came here!" she smiled at me.

I smiled and she put our orders in. We got our heaping bowls of noodles in huge takeout boxes and Misaki-senpai paid for the both of us. We all laughed and ate the noodles.

I was half done with my noodles before I couldn't eat anymore. Misaki-senpai said I can take my leftovers and eat them later, when I was hungry.

I bid goodbye to my favorite class and teleported to my room, where Youichi was waiting at the front of my door.

He tilted his head in concern, because a lot happened to me. I met my teachers, friends and my former ones. I even came face-to-face with my past love.

"You okay, Mikan?" He asked with a serious voice.

I sadly nodded, and hugged him, to ease his uneasiness.

He hugged me tightly in return and nuzzled his face into my neck, hugging my waist tightly so that I lean onto him. I complied because he made me safe these 6 months I lamented over Natsume hating me. I have to say. He really is the one for me.

He carried me again bridal-style to the bed, and forced me to sleep, insisting me that I will need it. He tucked the sheets around us like always and protectively hugged me, making sure that I don't slip out of his arms like the way I did out of Natusme's.

But I didn't.

This time, I stayed in his hug, sound asleep.


	7. The Christmas Dance

For the next few days, it was hectic.

Mikan helped around with the Christmas decorations, and felt happy that her alice was most welcome, now that she had gained numerous alices through her SECI alice.

Although, she didn't decorate with her normal classmates anymore, now that they backstabbed her.

She, Yuu, Rina, and Nobara decorated along with her Special Abilities class.

Hannah and Mike and Youichi were at her uncle's office to learn how her "friends" hurt her.

Though she told them it was kinda unnecessary to do that.

She had helped with the tree decoration and now, along with her senpai, Misaki senpai, the two of them were doing final touches to the cake.

"Ahhhhhhh! Cake is done! Finally!" one of the clone Misakis said. She merged her duplicates into one and very un-ladylike stretched.

Mikan giggled. "Yeah, finally done!"

Nobara had come in and hugged Mikan from behind. "Ah! Nobara-chan! There you were! I was gonnna ask you if you picked out a dress for the Christmas ball!"

Nobara released her arms and nodded, eyes gleaming, "Yes! I did! It took me a long time of saving up rabbits, but I finally got a dress! It is icy blue! To match my eyes! And the shoes are a deeper shade of cold blue as well!"

Mikan smiled at the girl. She was worried that the girl would have nothing pretty to wear for the ball. "That is good! Nobara, I'm happy for you!"

"And you, Mikan-chan?" Nobara smiled.

"Ah! Not to worry, my friend from America, Hannah, dragged me into buying me ANOTHER dress! It is mint-green in colored and is identical in style to my other royal blue dress." (If you are confused, refer to the gown Mikan wore to the dance to celebrate new school year).

"Haha! Mikan, it sounds like you learned to hate shopping!" Misaki laughed.

"No it isn't like that. Hannah is really good in picking out dresses and clothes, I'm just not a born shopper, y'know? Mikan smiled, "She has been an elder sister to me while I was in America. I really like the stuff she gets for me. You will also love how nice she is!"

"Awwww, that is so nice! I will try to talk to her at the ball!" Misaki smiled.

The three girls took of their aprons and gloves and hair nets and disposed of the nets and gloves and proceeded into walking out of the kitchen, still talking to each other.

They remained oblivious to the other students were watching them and even stopped their work to see Mikan, smiling and laughing, even though the middle school division students knew her smile wasn't meant for them.

Not after they hurt her like that.

Mikan had then spent the rest of the day helping in any minor decorations that the special abilities might've needed in the preparation of the Christmas Ball.

Whew, was it TIRING!

After Mikan had given a great deal of help to the other students, Narumi sensei warmly told Mikan that she should rest in for the dance for tomorrow.

Mikan, sad though, hugged Misaki senpai and Nobara chan goodbye, and left with the remark of wanting to see how pretty they look at the dance, making the two blush.

Mikan was wiped out from the helping so much, but then again, this wasn't her first time doing this.

She went to her room and opened it, finding Youichi making himself as comfortable as he wanted.

"Hey, I don't recall letting you in," Mikan warned.

"Hey, we did this in America, with me coming in your room whenever I wanted," Youichi smirked.

"Ugh. But Youichi! What if HE sees us?" Mikan pleaded.

"Oh don't be a kill-joy. Just set a Nullification Boundary and a Barrier around this room, in case if he tries to barge the door down, or the balcony doors during the dead night," Youichi casually said.

"True,"Mikan said, nodding.

Mikan concentrated and made the two boundaries that Youichi talked about. Then when Mikan was done, she showered, changed, brushed and then climbed in bed.

**Youichi's POV**

She giggled for a little while, but then she stopped and color drained from her face.

"What?" I asked.

"Tomorrow is the ball. I don't know what Natsume might do to me. He might force himself on me again whether I like it or not and pull me away from you," she faltered in her voice, tears dripping her face.

"What? Is he really like this?" Youichi asked.

"You don't know, do you?" Mikan asked sadly, brown orbs pitying him.

"Know what?" Youichi asked.

"How he and I got together. Since you are my boyfriend, it would be honest to tell you, right?" Mikan asked.

Youichi nodded. He was glad she said she was his girlfriend. It made him happy that she returned his feelings back, with an approval.

"Okay. The story is somewhat short, but it might infuriate you, so let your emotions out later," Mikan pushed.

He nodded, urging her on.

She took a deep breath and started with her woeful story. "It started when I came to Gakuen Alice at the age of 10 years. I was happy, bubbly, and cheery when Hotaru called me her sister, and so many other girls and boys in my homeroom called me their best friend. All except Natsume and his friend Ruka. They developed feelings of love, not friendship, although Ruka understood that Natsume loved me after a few years, he started to date Hotaru. But Natsume stayed himself, and began to always watch me, eyes boring into me wherever I went. He then must've had some liking towards me, because whenever I talked to any guys, even for innocent purposes for school assignments or what not, he would fling them away and say not to be near a mile near me. He confessed to me a month later when I asked him why was he doing all of this. That was nearing the time we entered Middle School. He said he fell in love with me, and didn't want me getting near other guys but him. The only guy I could hang out, that time, was Natsume and his best friend Ruka. And only some girls I was allowed to hang out with. Even some of my best friends were prohibited from being near me! And then he dumped me for Luna."

Youichi's eyes widened.

"He was brainwashed into the threat that if he didn't do what she said, she will suck my soul out, mine and mine only if he didn't comply. He didn't know that I had the Alices to resist. My Nullification Alice can block her Soul Sucking Alice. He knew that from what I told him about my alice, origins, usage, power, and how much can be used. But he just had to forget about it and easily complied with her. And the others," Mikan stated.

"Mikan, I'm so sorry. But I won't forget you in the fraction of the moment like Hyuuga," Youichi reached a hand to stroke her hairs back.

"Do you promise?" Mikan's voice tightened, "I'm scared of being thrown away. How do I know this is any different?"

That did it. Youichi drew her in a tight hug and mumbled in her ears, "I didn't make that vow on that first night for nothing. Have trust in me. Stay with me."

Mikan widened her eyes. It sounded like marriage vows. She didn't know what to say, but to mutter, "I do," like a bride.

_Kiss the bride…_

Youichi drew her lips in a kiss. Not fierce, demanding. But steady, soft, and comforting. Like the one you give on a wedding day.

And they slept the night away, unknowing that a pair of crimson eyes burned at the sight of the marriage-like scene.

He mentally cursed himself for not being able to come in due to the two boundaries Mikan casted.

"I'll be back," and with that, the flame-caster jumped over the railing of the balcony.

NEXT DAY…

**Youichi's POV**

Beauty sleep… beauty sleep… beauty sleep…..

TICKLE

TICKLE

TICKLE

A pair of tiny soft hands tickled my weak spot in my stomach. Enough to send me over the bed laughing for Mikan to stop it.

"Sorry, but you pinned me down when I tried to wake up, mumbling for FIVE more minutes," Mikan snapped.

"You seriously are a kill joy," I whined.

"Come on, go get ready. Hannah wants to go to the shopping center here, Central Town and wants to buy Howalon. I promised to get her some!"

"Ugh, fine," I got out of her room. GIRLS.

I was done in a flash and 20 minutes later she was out.

She asked me, "Where are those two?"

I shrugged. Just then when I was about to ask her if we could go on ahead, they FINALLY came.

ABOUT TIME!

"Mikan, look! I can speak Japanese fluently!" Hannah squealed.

Mikan smiled angelically and pressed her friend to be quiet so they could go get Howalons like Hannah wanted.

We reached the Howalon shop, which looked like a gingerbread house.

"W-wow," Hannah whispered.

"Man, the howalon is so expensive here still huh?" I asked Mikan.

She merely nodded, "But I can afford the big boxes if I wanted."

"How?" I asked.

"I have my sources," she slyly said.

I didn't want to press her on how she has gotten all the money to buy the big boxes she got for her and Hannah and some for later.

But at least she smiled at eating a familiar treat that reminded her of home.

And Hannah nearly broke our eardrums when she took one bite of her big box of Howalons.

We spent the day enjoying the nice cool weather and walked through the streets.

We had lunch at an Italian Restaurant in Central Town, Mikan paid the bill, which I didn't like her doing, but she said that I do not have the school's currency, Rabbits.

So that was the only reason I let her pay the bill.

Around 5 p.m. I checked my watch.

"Hey, Mikan? You and Hannah should get ready for the ball. It starts around 8:30 p.m.," I told Mikan.

"Shoot, that's right! Hannah let's go! Or else we will not get there on time!" Mikan pushed Hannah towards her room.

**Mikan's POV**

We sped toward's my room at full speed, when Hannah stopped me.

"-kan!"

"Mi-!"

"MIKAN!" Hannah yelled.

That did the trick to stop me. I spun on my heels and asked her, "What?"

"My dress is in my room. Let me get it, and I will come in your room," Hannah replied.

"Fine," I sighed.

I unlocked my room, and laid my dress out, with its matching mint-green heels on my bed.

I took a nice bubble bath and dried and combed my hair out, leaving it soft and silky.

I went work away on my nails. I painted them mint green and put three red dots on the corner of each nail, representing Christmas Colors. Then I put top coat.

30 minutes later, they were perfectly dried, and I did Hannah's nails as a deep purple covered with silver sequin. I put a top coat and let her wait for another 30 minutes.

When they were dried, I let her proceed to make-up. She put moderate pink blush on my cheeks, did a faint out line of my eyes (not too dramatic, but faint), and did my lips to be reddest of the reddest.

Although this makeup was a little bit more than the one before for the celebration for start of school when I came into America, the makeup was made to be sure that my natural beauty could be admired.

I proceeded to her makeup and did a heavier blush on her cheeks, smoky outline of her eyes, and gave her a dark red (like pomegranate red).

For my hair, she relented when I said I didn't want anything in my hair. But for hers, I thought she should keep her hair down, and just to curl it as much as we could with the curling iron she brought.

And as a finishing touch for her, we put a dark purple hairband (thin one) with a silver bow in it, in her hair.

Then we slipped our gowns on.

Me: my mint-green strapless wrap-styled dress that flows long and flows that went from solid mint-green in the top of the dress to pure white. And my 2 and a half inch heels (mint green).

Hannah: dark purple cocktail dress with silver high heels.

(To see the dress and heels I am talking about, put this link in the browser tab: upfile/Occasion%20Dresses/Cocktail%20Dresses/High% 20Low%20Style%20Sequin%20Purple%20Cocktail% )

We then walked outside my room, with Youichi and Mike waiting for us.

They stared at us in awe, when they saw us.

Mike escorted Hannah and Youichi escorted me to the ballroom.

It was wonderful, how nice and big the Christmas tree was in the center.

Tsubasa senpai encouraged me to dance a folk song with him, and Youichi was unsure to let me go.

But I assured him that this was just a senpai/kouhai relationship and it is just harmless, that I will just dance with my friends.

"And we have the Last Dance, where only lovers dance. I will dance that only with you, all right?" I assured him.

He smiled and let me go dance with Tsubasa senpai.

I first danced with Tsubasa senpai, then Tono senpai, then Yuri senpai (if you don't know her, she is the Female Pheromone girl in the manga, and her alice doesn't affect Mikan due to Nullification), then Yuu, and lastly Megane senpai.

Then it was time for the Last Dance.

The girls and guys were given 30 minutes to find a partner before the music started.

I went towards Youichi when an arm yanked me from behind and pulled me forcefully towards a chest.

I knew that the hand was a shade more tanned than Youichi's normally pale one.

Plus it was also that this person was a forceful person by nature.

Who could he be?

Then it hit me. And once it did, my face turned dark and murderous.

"Let the hell go of me, Hyuuga," I scowled.

"Not unless you dance the Last Dance with me," Natsume breathed into my ear, had me in a death grip.

The other hand was pinning my waist against him and I hated this.

"Never," I glowered.

"Then forget about being free," he smoothly countered.

"This is not the first time I danced the Last Dance," I glowered at him.

"I know. You danced it with Imai, right?" he asked.

"No. I danced it with a guy as well. Youichi," I sneered at him.

Then the pain started when he became more forceful on me and gripped me even harder, hurting me.

"Hannah! HANNAH!" I rasped out of pain, "Senpai!"

Hannah and Misaki senpai were nearby and heard my cries of help, and in a flash Hannah and Misaki senpai were at my side.

Misaki senpai tore Hyuuga away from me and held him away from me, while Hannah got her Idiot Gun version 9.0 (her latest) and hit Hyuuga with it.

IDIOT! IDIOT! IDIOT!

He flew across the room, and hit somewhere, but in god's grace, no one noticed it. They were startled by the sudden noise, but resumed finding partners.

"Thanks you two," I winced in pain.

"Who was that idiot?" Hannah eyed me.

"Hyuuga. Natsume Hyuuga," I wheezed.

"Mikan! You allright?" Youichi, Mike, and Yuu were racing towards us.

"It's allright. That Hyuuga idiot tried to make Mikan dance the Last Dance. Lucky we got him, eh?" Misaki mused.

Youichi glowered at the word, "Hyuuga".

Hannah eyed him, and said, "Don't worry, I hit him across the room with my Idiot Gun 9.0."

Youichi smiled and said, "One of the few times I will thank you. Thanks."

Hannah glared at him but smirked. Then the announcer yelled, "Five minutes left! Hurry, find your partners quick!"

Color drained from my face quick. "Uh-oh, we better get paired up before that jerk tries to force me again," I said.

I hugged Misaki senpai and told her, "Thanks for helping me, Onee-chan."

"Awwwww, you called me Onee-chan! Can that be my nickname?" Misaki asked. I nodded cutely.

She gave me another hug for me saying yes, and went to find Tsubasa Senpai.

Hannah blowed smoke off of her bazooka before hiding it, and I gave her a hug for helping me as well. I whispered, "You too. You are my big sister as well."

Hannah smiled and responded to my hug. She then dragged Mike off somewhere, leaving me with Youichi.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you with escaping Hyuuga," he said, worry filling his eyes.

"It's okay. But you are here," I assured him.

He relented, and then asked, "Mikan Yukihira, will you dance the Last Dance with me?"

I laughed and curtsied, "Yes, yes I will."

We laughed as we hugged and the dance started.

It was a ten minute slow dance, and there were a lot less pairs on the dance floors due to girls being mostly rejected by their dream guys.

But there were some obvious pairs.

Me and Youichi

Hannah and Mike

Tsubasa senpai and Misaki senpai

Ruka and Hotaru

Koko and Anna

Kitsuneme and Nonoko

Mochiage and Sumire

And even Yuri senpai (who now was in a girl's dress and shoes) and Sakurano senpai

I saw Hyuuga wishing he could kill Youichi and dance with me, but when Youichi and I sent him death glares along with my senpais and Hannah and Mike, he didn't dare interrupt my dance with Youichi.

Then it was over, and I felt guilt over me.

I saw Hotaru crying inconsolably in Ruka's arms when the dance was over.

I guess it hurt her too much when she saw me replace her as a best friend.

"Youichi, can I forgive just ONE person?" I pleaded him.

"Who?" he asked, nodding.

"That girl," I pointed at Hotaru.

"Why?" he asked.

"You remembered when I told you when I was little and was given death threats and called monster, a nuisance, a terrible person? She was the first person in my life to not call me those names and treated me nicely," I said, words filled with compassion.

Youichi softened when I described Hotaru, "She is probably the one sobbing the most over losing me. Have pity on her, Youichi. She called me her only sister, since she loved me so much. I promise to never love Hyuuga, but let me forgive her," I asked.

"Fine. Even if he wanted you back, you do know you are mine, right? After dancing with me?" He asked, but not possessively.

"Right," I smiled. The Last Dance was fateful. Once you dance with someone, some magic makes sure you spend the forever with that person. You can never escape out of being with that person.

People have made mistakes by dancing with someone but find out they don't want to be with that person, but it was too late. They danced together. And the rest of their lives were wasted in hatred together.

That is why I heavily contemplated before dancing the Last Dance with Youichi in America.

I went over to Hotaru, who secluded herself from the others and didn't care if she got cake or not. She was sniffling silently and trembling.

I almost let tears spill. Although I do not love Hyuuga anymore (no matter how much I have tried to convince myself), I let Hotaru go through enough. I will extend my Soft Spot for her.

I put a hand on her shoulder, softly and she whirled around at my touch.

"M-mikan?" she sobbed.

I gave her a rare smile, my short auburn hair flowing in the wind, and my immaculate bangs swaying a little.

Ruka stood away from us about five feet with eyes as big as saucers when he saw me smile at Hotaru.

And the rest of my Gakuen Alice former friends froze in shock and jealousy as I was only forgiving Hotaru, not them.

I gave them a dead look before continuing my kind smile to Hotaru.

"Come here, idiot," I laughed to her.

Hotaru broke out in sobs and tackled me, luckily she didn't tip me over. She wrapped her arms over my waist tightly like I was a pillow.

I gave a smile and responded to the hug. I wrapped a hand over her shoulders and put another hand in her hair, smoothing it out.

"I'm so sorry for hurting you, Mikan! I didn't want to hurt you! Please forgive me!" Hotaru wailed.

I let tears spill. "I do forgive you. You've suffered enough, Hotaru. Let's go back to being the same friends we were before the incident happened."

Hotaru sobbed, "But you will never be the same. You don't love Hyuuga anymore?"

I nodded, "I don't. I am still angry at him, but I just realized he is not meant for me anymore. But that won't come in the way between us, Hotaru. Sometimes you realize that your first love is not the person you will spend forever with."

She understood what I was talking about. She loved this guy named Takashi in our village before we came to the Academy. He was a scorner of love and rejected Hotaru when she had enough nerves to confess. I had to talk the poor girl into letting him go, promising she will find someone better than that jerk. And she found someone better than that moron. His name was Ruka, and he started to love Hotaru for her inner qualities.

She nodded. We both knew that Hyuuga was a playboy, and it was hard for me to take it that when we were in a relationship, he would constantly cheat on me.

I knew just what would make her feel better. I kissed the top of her head like a big sister and said, "Come on, Christmas Dinner is starting. Want to sit with me?"

She meekly nodded. I broke the hug, looped our arms, which made her smile wide, and took her to where my American friends were.

Hannah questioned me, "Why did you forgive HER?"

"She suffered the most of me leaving them. She has suffered enough," I told her.

When Hannah heard that, she softened up to Hotaru, and allowed for Hotaru to sit. Even Youichi smiled at me and allowed Hotaru to sit with me.

Then we ate the dinner with me telling my life in America to her.

She wanted to have something so she could communicate to me in America.

So I told her to email me with my email address that I gave her. She gave hers to me. We exchanged phone numbers as well.

And finally I told her and Yuu to chat with me, along with Rina-chan through the webcam.

"Hotaru, can you make a promise to me?" I asked.

She nodded.

"When we both graduate from high school, we will come see each other. We will live near each other, so that we can always be there for each other," I vowed.

She smiled and hugged me tight. "I'm so happy you forgave me."

I smiled, "And I am glad I did." I responded to the hug.

After dinner, we had ice-cream cake together, Hotaru asked me if she could sleep with me. I knew that Youichi had so many times of sleeping next to me, so I agreed.

With a little bit of reasoning, Youichi agreed to let her sleep next to me for the rest of the nights we will be in Japan.

Hotaru snuggled in bed and I smiled as I hugged her. She hugged me back as we both fell asleep.

I just felt light when I forgave the person who grieved over her mistake the most.

I am so happy that Hotaru and I are the same again.


	8. When Winter Turns Into Spring

**Mikan's POV**

It was time to leave Japan.

Although I felt heavy about leaving the one place in my heart that I grew up, I learned to be a lady in my own home land. So how could I let it go?

It was hard saying goodbye to my senpais.

My tiny admirers.

Yuu.

Rina.

Uncle.

Hii-sama.

Imai senpai and Sakurano senpai.

And mostly Hotaru.

But I gave promises to see them again, to be together with Hotaru when we graduate, and to take Rina-chan under my wing when she graduates herself until she can fly on her own.

Before I could leave, Hotaru gave me a gift. It was her Baka Gun 9.0 with unlimited bullets.

"Hotaru, you shouldn't have," I cried. That was her latest invention.

"It is my most prized, and my best gun now and forever. It took a lot of my alice to make this. You have to promise to keep it with you to keep idiots who have intentions of hurting you at the bay. Carry it with you, everywhere you go, for forever. And when you use it, think of me hitting those idiots, okay?" Hotaru asked.

The Baka Gun 9.0 with unlimited bullets was bigger and bulkier than her other guns. When I use this, half my arm will not be seen. It shone the color of bright violet; the color of her eyes, and in calligraphy, my name was scrawled on it in Silver Glitter: _"Mikan Sakura Yukihira"_

I tearfully nodded and carefully put it in the velvet bedding and closed the steel box of its case.

I hugged her tightly, and gave her my own present.

My Pandora Bracelet.

When Hotaru saw it, she heavily protested in taking it. "Mikan, your mother gave it to you! This is all you have of your own parents! Don't be so silly! I don't need a gift! You forgiving me were my present!"

I smiled to her, and pulled something else out. Another charm. A sterling silver robot charm.

I strung it on the bracelet, and took her writing hand, her right hand, and clasped it on there. I held the hand and said, "Yes, this is all I have to remember of my past. All I have of my family. But when you called me your sister and treated me as your sister, you are my family as well. Wear this with you everywhere. When you eat, sleep, shower, or attend school. Wear it throughout life, to remind you of how much you made a certain person so happy. And that person is me," I said, tears glistening in my eyes.

Hotaru, being the non-crybaby she would've been until now, let tears fall freely. But not out of hurt and regret this time. But out of pure love and happiness. "Yes, Mikan. I will. Until the time we meet again," she solemnly vowed.

I hugged her, catching her off guard. A tight hug this time. "Yes. Until we meet again. This is not the last time," I vowed.

Hotaru cried loudly as she tightly hugged me back. Almost all of the Gakuen Alice students saw this sorrowful scene of two people parting ways.

But only the two of us know that this isn't forever.

We stayed like this for 5 minutes before I broke the hug, brought the hand to my cheek, kissed it, and let go, taking the case with the Baka Gun in it, with me.

I took Youichi's hand, and sorrowfully sat in the Limo, which sped away from Gakuen Alice, the place where I was first accepted.

I cried, and Youichi asked me, "Mikan? Are you allright?"

"I am just so light that I forgave Hotaru," I smiled through my tears, a bright smile this time.

I sobbed, and Hannah hugged me.

I hugged back, and on the way to the Airport, we checked in our luggages, and I was lucky that I was allowed to take my Baka Gun through the Security Checkpoint.

I hugged the steel case, and Hannah asked me what was inside it. I told her I will show her when we get back to our condominiums. I don't think that pulling out the Baka Gun right now will be the best scene to show in the airport.

When we boarded in as First Class, I could only whisper one thing as the plane took off.

_Hotaru, till we see each other again._

We came back into the airport in America, got our luggage, stepped into the sleek black limo, when Hannah pestered me so much on what is in it.

"**Mikan? Mikan? Come on show me what is in the case! Please!" **Hannah pleaded with puppy dog eyes.

I, however was unfazed and stood my ground that I would show her when we come to the condominium.

She wasn't happy, but she waited.

We reached the condominium, unpacked our stuff, before I caved in under Hannah's constant whining.

"**Allright! Allright! Hang on!" **I protested.

I took out the slightly bulky bazooka which wasn't that heavy to carry around.

I was a lefty, so I decided to do it with my right hand. I slipped in my right hand.

She gasped, **"What is THAT?"**

"**Baka Gun 9.0. Comes with unlimited bullets. Courtesy of my best friend in Japan whom I forgave, Hotaru Imai, with the Invention Alice. She made this gun. This is her latest invention. This gun is for hitting pure idiots. The bullets are steel bullets and hurt when come in contact but the gun itself is used to ward off idiots, not to hurt them. The bullet will not pierce skin on contact, rather leave a huge red swell that could take weeks to heal," **I smirked.

"**Can you give us a demo?" **Hannah asked.

"**None of you guys are idiots. When we go to school tomorrow, you will hear the voice enough to know that it is my Baka Gun. I still have annoying fans,"** I reasoned.

"**Oh! Okay! Can't wait for tomorrow!" **Hannah squealed.

I smiled.

We had dinner, and then all of us went to bed.

Youichi, the gentleman he was, came with me, and waited for me to lay out my uniform, the Baka Gun, and my school bag, which had my project which we were supposed to do over the Winter Break for English.

Glad that was my only project. Took me only an hour to do it.

I climbed into bed and smiled. Youichi was surprised.

"Mikan, I thought you would cry, like the other times," he asked.

"No. I feel better that I let Hotaru off the hook. She was the one who lamented the most over pushing me out of Gakuen Alice," I told him.

"I see….." Youichi trailed off. Then I knew something was up.

"Youichi?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I was thinking…" Youichi started.

"Yeah?"

"We should make it official," he concluded. Make WHAT official?

"We should make it official that we are a couple. How long can we keep lying to the fans?" Youichi asked. Or more like stated.

I sighed. Even they got on my nerves.

"Yeah, wonder how they are going to take it," I sighed.

"Dunno. But at least it will keep the fans at bay, knowing we are in a relationship," he answered.

"I sure am going to need that Baka Gun," I mumbled.

"I was thinking, that would be the perfect present you need at the perfect time, you know?" he mused.

"Somehow you are right," I sighed, "Let's go to sleep. I do not know HOW I am going to explain them this."

"Hey I am going to be there with you trying to ward off girls. I am by your side as well!" Youichi pouted.

"Never knew that boys pout," I laughed.

That made him pout even more.

I laughed, and urged him to go to sleep.

THE NEXT DAY

**Normal POV**

Mikan groaned. She groaned getting up.

She didn't want to put on that uniform and gather up her books.

But she had Hotaru's Baka Gun. She could always keep herself safe. One thing she looked forward to using.

Youichi complied to get ready, and was back with his stuff.

The pair was silent, because they didn't know how they were going to tell the school that they were together.

When Hannah and Mike came out the four of them ate breakfast and headed out.

It wasn't so soon before going into the campus the fans tried attacking Mikan and Youichi.

The pair hooked their arms to show the others to ward off.

Despite that, the girls sent glares to Mikan and tried to pull Youichi away from Mikan.

And flirt with him.

But then ghosts surrounded the makeup covered girls and Youichi glowered in his dark aura, **"I already danced the Last Dance with Mikan. So you all stay the hell away from me."**

Then when the four went into the building, it was Mikan's test of courage when several good-looking boys tried to pry the two apart.

Youichi was about to activate his alice out of protectiveness, when Mikan used her self-defense.

Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka!

The guys were crumbled in a heap, groaning and rubbing their heads where the bullet hit their head, leaving a huge red sore spot.

Mikan sighed in indifference and blew the smoke from the tip of her gun before smoothly countering, **"Don't even think about it. I danced the Last Dance with Youichi twice. If you all are still stupid enough to not comprehend those words, I hope you like getting hit twice on the head."**

Youichi stared in awe at Mikan and said, "Now let's tell them we are a couple."

Mikan could only smile.

The four of them went into the classroom where more girls tried to flirt Youichi and boys tried to woo Mikan in.

But Youichi glared, and Mikan stood her ground holding her right arm adorned with the Baka Gun 9.0.

Mikan gave an introduction on the invention, and said that if any girl tried to get near Youichi, she will fling them to Pluto with the courtesy of the Baka Gun.

Youichi smiled at this, and glared at the other guys saying if they try to woo Mikan in, he will send ghosts to creep the guys for the rest of their miserable lives.

And with that the class knew that Mikan Yukihira and Youichi Hijiri were taken.

Oh what tears to be shed by the classmates.

_And with that, the girls danced the boys laughed and the teachers argued._

_Little did they know that snowflakes stopped falling?_

_And the ground started to reappear again._

_Grass started to grow._

_Flowers started to bloom._

_Butterflies swirled around._

_The trees grew deep leaves of green adorned with flowers themselves._

_And the air became sweet._

_Sweet, sweet with love._

_As 14__th__ of February crawled around the corner._

**Valentine's Day [Mikan's POV]**

"**Oh, no," **Mikan breathed.

"What?" Youichi whispered.

"You'll see…" Mikan trailed off.

"**Hello students!" **the homeroom teacher hollered at the top of her lungs.

The class groaned.

"**We are not having classes today! Instead we are going to make Alice Stones! After 3 hours, we are going to give you some time to switch Alice Stones with the person you love," **the teacher concluded.

Then the class cheered.

"**It is said that whoever you switch your alice stones with, you will be with forever. More of like being soulmates," **the teacher explained.

"Oh, THAT'S why you are saying oh no," Youichi whispered again.

She merely nodded.

"Well we can skip this class. The teacher already let the students work on making Alice Stones for three hours," Youichi reasoned.

So the two of them left the classroom much to the whining of the girls who wanted Youichi to accept their alice stone and the boys who wanted Mikan to accept theirs.

When they went outside, Youichi grabbed Mikan's hand and started to run.

When they reached the lake, they stopped.

"Hey, Youichi? Do you still believe the rumor about the Alice Stone Exchange?" Mikan asked, because the way the teacher explained it, it sounded like a rumor.

"Yeah. It is not a rumor, it is true. Every pair that switched stones were together forever, whether they liked it or not. That is why when you make a stone, be careful who you trade it with," Youichi warned.

"Oh….." Mikan said, looking at the floor.

"What happened?" Youichi asked. He was starting to get worried that Mikan might've switched her stone with another boy.

"I made a Nullification Alice Stone for you. I thought you might want to swap…" Mikan said, disappointed.

Youichi was so relieved he hugged her tightly and spun her around.

Mikan who was surprised, squealed, "Youichi?"

He put her down, although happy, said, "Don't scare me like that, Mikan! I thought you swapped your stone with someone else! I, too, made you one; being the reason I asked if you wanted to skip class today."

Mikan was so happy that tears slid out of her eyes and she hugged Youichi, wrapping arms around his neck while sobbing. She had never felt this happy with Natsume.

Youichi who was caught off guard, smiled when Mikan hugged him and responded to her hug, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulled her in close, for a moment that neither of them could forget.

After they hugged for a few minutes and Mikan calmed down, they broke the hug.

It was first Mikan's turn to give Youichi her Alice Stone.

She reached for her collar and dug her hand in there for a Mandarin Orange Alice Stone on a thin silver chain.

She carefully undid the clasp, and put it on Youichi's neck, closing the clasp.

If you looked closely, the stone was as big as a half dollar coin and plump, the color of the stone a deep orange.

"The power in this stone will never run out, due to my Alice Shape, so you can always protect yourself," Mikan smiled at this. For the first time, she felt happy about her Alice.

Youichi smiled at the thought of Mikan making her Alice Stone with him in mind. It made his heart melt that she really cared.

Now it was his turn to give Mikan his Alice Stone.

He reached for a thin gold chain underneath his own collar with an Emerald Green Alice Stone.

He undid the clasp and closed the clasp when the chain and Alice Stone was around Mikan's neck.

Youichi's Alice Stone was about as big as Mikan's but a little bigger in diameter.

Youichi took the Mikan's Alice Stone in his hand and cupped it. He gave it a light kiss, making Mikan blush. "With this, you are mine. Even if you want your stone back, I will never give it, even if you come to hate me. Remember that," he softly whispered.

"Why would I hate you? I wish to be by your side," Mikan cried happily, reaching out a hand to stroke Youichi's cheek.

Just then, a white blinding light surrounded the pair. As quickly as it came, it quickly died out after ten seconds.

"What…was…that?" Mikan breathed in confusion.

"You see, whenever a pair swaps alice stone, the light surrounds them two and seals them together, like intertwining the pair's fates together, so that the pair will definitely be together. You and I just made a promise to be together forever. Almost like we are engaged," Youichi explained.

"Then what about the others? They are going to swap Alice Stones today," Mikan stated.

"Yeah, but most of the time the girls shove their stones to the boys and sometimes the boys shove their stones to the girls. Most likely it is going to be one-sided exchange. But there are going to be quite a few exchanges of Alice Stones, and quite a few pairs are going to be bonded together. That is why some students before leaving Alice Academy, already are engaged with someone. It's not rare you know, just a little uncommon to find a girl and boy accept each other, you know?" Youichi asked.

"Yeah," Mikan shrugged.

Then Mikan hugged Youichi again and murmured, "Thank you, though."

"Mm, for what?" Youichi asked. He knew why, but he wanted Mikan to say it.

"Before, I was so sure Natsume was for me, despite all the people he tried to pull out of my life. But then when I came here, I found that the real person I needed was you. You, who never forced yourself on me, but rather waited for me to straighten myself and tell you my feelings when I was sure I was ready, you were the person who eased my pain and took it away from me. You were the person to hug me when I thought no one would at night. You never tried to lock anyone out of my life like he did. And now I feel so grateful that fate brought us together," Mikan explained, her breath being shaky.

Youichi felt happy that Mikan felt happy about him making her feel better, but his own heart wavered at the thought of possible tortures that Mikan might've suffered back then under Natsume's full control.

He hugged Mikan tightly around the waist and buried his face in her hair like it was a tissue.

"Stop it, you're making me cry," he stammered. He really was going to let tears out now. And it was the first time he ever cried for someone. First time he ever cried in his LIFE.

"Let it out, Youichi. Sometimes it is better to let your feelings out rather than bottle it up," Mikan reasoned shakily.

Youichi pulled her so tight against him and had her in an iron grip. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and let tears fall freely. He then started to shake as he sobbed silently. All the pain from his life was being poured out, like there was no end to his sorrow.

**Youichi's POV**

What is this coming out of my own eyes?

Tears?

How can I cry? I never knew that a person existed on this earth that could make me do such a thing.

I pull her in an iron grip and sobbed into her shoulder, soaking her blazer and the tip of her collar.

I hug her possessively because she is special to me. She got me to fall for her at first glance. She was the first person to trust me so much. She was the person to pull out the soft side of me. She was the first person to melt my heart of ice. She made me feel that I was needed, that my existence on this world was not for nothing. She made me feel lighter than a feather sometimes that I wanted to sing. She made me feel emotions. She made me care about her. She took my pain. She even made me cry.

I will never let her go. She is mine forever.

I cried for as long as I wanted, and as much as I wanted until all the tears were out. I then released her slowly so that she can breathe and move around.

I saw that her right shoulder was completely soaked in my tears, and I felt embarrassed.

"Sorry," I mutter.

Mikan gives me a knowing look, and takes something out of her pocket. A handkerchief.

She goes to the lake, dips the tip of it in the water, and walks over to me and wipes away the dry tears that must've caked on my face, leaving salt residue.

"No need to apologize," she smiled at me. A bright smile.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Because sometimes it is best to let out whatever you are feeling. The pain hurts, and if you let it out, you might feel better," she said, continuing to wipe my tears away.

When she was done, she put it away and tugged on my left arm. "Come on, let's go back to class," she persuaded.

I just let her take me there,

When we got there, to our classroom, the exchange started.

Girls flocked to me, and boys surrounded Mikan.

But we stayed closely linked, and Mikan brought out her Baka Gun.

"**Get closer to my boyfriend, or get closer to me, you will get the wrath of my beloved Baka Gun, meant especially for 100% idiots," **Mikan glared.

Everyone backed up from us, and I smirked at this, regaining my icy side once more.

"**Dear, don't you mean fiancé?" **I asked her.

Everyone gasped.

"**Oh, right!" **She laughed.

"**WHAT IS THE MEANING OF BEING A FIANCE? WHO TOLD YOU TWO TO GET ENGAGED? I NEVER GAVE THAT BRAT TO BE ENGAGED TO MY YOUICHI!" **A girl yelled at the top of her lungs. I think she was the president of my fan club. Not that I wanted one.

"**Tch. You're annoying. My ears are bleeding," **I glowered at her as I sent ghosts to scare her to death.

Mikan tugged my arm and I got rid of the ghosts.

"**So….what proof do you…..have….to say that you are…..engaged?" **the same girl snickered at Mikan.

She eyed me, and I nodded back.

We pulled out the necklaces from under our collars, her pulling out my Alice Stone, and me pulling out her Alice stone.

"**We swapped our Alice Stones," **we monotonously said as we put the necklaces back underneath our collars again, **"And even if you try to separate us, too late. The light already bound us two together. It is written in fate that we are now to be together forever," **I said.

"**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" **the annoying girl wailed out of the room.

"I hope I don't go deaf," Mikan mumbled underneath her breath. I agreed with her.

Later, I heard that she transferred out of our school to another one in UK. Glad I won't see that annoying bitch again.

I knew that we had to do missions.

We did it, as months flew by, but one thing is for sure.

I sure felt lighter now that I let my tears and pain out.

Out, to the one girl I had set my heart on.

O-O-O

**HEY GUYS, SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE. THE COMPUTER WOULD BREAK DOWN, MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO UPDATE MY STORY.**

**FOR THOSE OF YOU READING MY SPIRITED AWAY STORY OF IMPERIALISM CONFLICTS: A BLOOMING LOVE? I WILL GET THE NEXT CHAPTER BY TODAY OR TOMORROW! SORRY FOR THE INCONVENEINCE.**

**METALLICTITANIUM**

**RXR PLEASE! **


	9. When The Pain Fades Away

**Gakuen Alice [Hotaru's POV]**

I walked outside the classroom once the class was dismissed. My relationship with Ruka was doing well, but I would find an excuse to get away whenever he chose to visit that jerk.

That jerk who forced Mikan against her own will to dance the Last Dance with him. Luckily her friend Hannah and Misaki senpai tore the two apart, and Hannah hit him across the gun with the American version of my line of Baka Guns.

I was just glad that Mikan had forgiven me. I am glad that she found someone better than that jerk Hyuuga.

I remembered those days when he kept his sight on Mikan only. He ruled out all boys for her to hang out with, and even some girls. He even prohibited Mikan from being near me. ME! ME!

What in the seven hells does he think he can do, marking who Mikan can be near?

I tried to tell Mikan that I had a bad feeling of her being near Hyuuga. I was scared that her innocent personality might be tainted by Hyuuga's dark, possessive nature.

And if that happens, I would lose my Mikan forever. Hey even the Ice Queen worries sometimes, okay?

Just then, I saw Hyuuga and Ruka coming in my direction.

I looked at Ruka with indifference (my way of saying that I care for him) and glared at Hyuuga so dark that I could strangle him with my EYES.

"What do you want, Hyuuga?" I spat with venom in my voice.

"About me and Mikan…" Hyuuga started. That's it. I snapped.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

I hit him with my second most powerful invention (after the Baka Gun 9.0 with unlimited steel bullets that I gave to Mikan), the Baka Canon.

"DO NOT EVEN THINK I AM GOING TO HAND OVER MIKAN TO YOU! DID YOU KNOW THAT I WAS THE ONE WHO HURT HER THE MOST? I WAS ONE OF THE MAJOR REASONS MIKAN DECIDED TO LEAVE FOR AMERICA! I HAD SPENT SIX MONTHS GRIEVING OVER LOSING HER, YOU BITCH! I CRIED PRACTICALLY THE WHOLE DAY, EVERY SINGLE STUPID DAY UNTIL SHE FINALLY FORGAVE ME! DO YOU THINK I AM GOING TO BE STUPID AND JUST GIVE YOU A SECOND CHANCE WITH MY BEST FRIEND? I ALMOST LOST HER WHEN YOU WERE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH HER! YOU SAID I COULDN'T EVEN BE NEAR HER! I NEARLY LOST HER! OVER MY DEAD BODY AM I GOING TO GIVE HER BACK TO YOU!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Hyuuga was twisted in a pile of red welts all over him. Who cares, he can get some other slut to heal him. No way am I going to let my elder brother heal him this time.

"Hotaru…" Ruka got near me, worry filling his eyes. He didn't like me getting angry, and Hyuuga getting hurt.

"No! I almost lost Mikan forever! I will give you a choice which you will have to decide now, and once you choose NO GOING BACK," I coldly glared at my boyfriend.

He shivered at my words and nodded for me to go on.

"The first choice is to stay with me, and leave you friend Hyuuga, or your second choice is to stay with that mindless jerk Hyuuga and leave me forever, despite the fact of dancing the Last Dance with me," I coldly finished.

I stepped a few steps back so that Hyuuga was the same distance away from Ruka as I was. I resumed my cold glare on Ruka, and Hyuuga sent a pleading look to him as well.

"Ruka… don't break our friendship tie…" Hyuuga hoarsely pleaded.

Ruka looked at Hyuuga with sad, sapphire eyes.

"You are the only person who still stands to be around with me…" Hyuuga urged.

Ruka's eyes stirred. His eyes were now picking up a storm in those ocean eyes.

"That Imai's not worth it… you'll find someone better than her…" Hyuuga reasoned.

I hung my head down. Hyuuga's poisoning Ruka with sweet words!

But when I looked up, Ruka was looking at Hyuuga with hate in his eyes, face and body expressions.

His eyes displayed wild emotions.

"Enough…" Ruka muttered darkly.

We stood like statues.

"Enough, Hyuuga. That is way beyond our boundaries that were originally drawn. Don't you think you have gone too far? Because of you falling so easily for Luna, we all obeyed you; because we feared we would be abandoned by you. Now I don't even know if Mikan will even forgive me, for me saying that I wished that she never existed in the first place. I said a lie, a LIE just to maintain my friendship with you. But now, I feel that being your friend is pulling me down into deeper darkness that is not meant for me. Imai's right. If I let you go, that might be the first step for me to purify myself and atone for what I did to Mikan. And maybe, if I try really hard, she might give in and forgive me," Ruka darkly spat out to Hyuuga.

I was shocked. He called Natsume by his last name! Something he never does! And he called Mikan by her first name! What is going on?

Before I could register anything else, I felt arms wrap themselves tightly around me, and I hugged them back. Tears of joy, was he really choosing me over him?

But I won't cry. My tears are only for Mikan.

But I will let down my cold mask to display my shocked emotions, just for Ruka.

He let me go, and said aloud enough for me and Hyuuga to hear, "I. CHOOSE. HOTARU."

He emphasized each word so that Hyuuga cringed at each one of them when they were being spat out.

"I thought that you would never choose me," I whispered.

"And let you go? I promised to stay with you forever. I don't think I will break my promise that easily. Besides you are right. Mikan suffered so much out of all of us being brainwashed by Luna. I wonder if she will forgive me for the things I have said to her," Ruka said, looking down in embarrassment.

I lift one hand out and stroke his cheek, he looks up. "Mikan will surely forgive you, if you have a pure heart, and if you truly repent for what you have done," I smiled at him.

Ruka smiled back. I guess he was going to try his best to get Mikan to forgive him again.

Just then I heard a chibi squeal my name.

"Hotaru-nee! Hotaru-nee! Can you take me to the park?" Rina cheered.

Did I say that after Mikan forgave me, that chibi apologized? She said she was sorry for what she did to me, and asked if I could be her big sister, Mikan being her other one.

I agreed because she was cute.

"Sure," I smiled and scooped her in my arms.

Rina peered over my shoulder and saw that worthless brat limping and following us.

"Hotaru-onee-chan, he's following us," she whispered to me.

"Damn," I muttered underneath my breath.

I whipped out my swan flying motorbike and ushered for Ruka and Rina to go on first and then climbed in myself.

I drove with fast speed in the high air towards the park and for hours Rina, Ruka, and I. I had to say we felt like a family.

I wonder if Youichi was treating her nicely.

If he doesn't, then I will make sure he doesn't get to see the living light anymore.

Because, Mikan had suffered enough.

After coming back to the classroom from playing for three hours, I heard big commotion.

"Yuu, what is everyone so excited about?" I asked Yuu with a confused face.

"Hotaru! You won't believe it! Mikan had worked really hard to become the Honor Student back in America! Her reward was to come here for a month in the summer, and she accepted it! She will be staying here for the entire month of July, during our Summer Break!" Yuu cheered.

"I knew she was brilliant," I smiled.

"Hotaru, wanna talk to her? We're gonna chat with her right now, you can stay if you want," Yuu asked.

Of course I wouldn't pass up a chance to talk to my friend.

"Sure."

Yuu pressed a few buttons in the projector and the image on the wall became clearer to show Mikan waiting to chat.

"Hey! Guys!" Mikan smiled.

"Mikan!" I gasped. I really do get to talk to her!

"Hotaru!" she smiled even wider, "I miss you! Are you wearing the bracelet I gave you?"

Happily, I raised my right wrist to show the Pandora Bracelet she gave me with the robot charm on there.

"And do you use my Baka Gun every day?" I asked.

"Yes! I do! You do not know how much I love it! Keeps annoying idiots that want to attach themselves to me away," She smiled, showing her pearly white teeth.

She lifted her right arm, which was adorned with the Baka Gun, in pristine condition, not one bit worn out.

She carefully tucked it away in its case and shut the steel box before resuming talking with us.

"Mikan, did I tell you that Ruka and I switched Alice Stones?" I told her.

"Really? Hotaru, congratulations! But where is Ruka?" she asked.

I turned and saw him hiding in a corner. I slapped my forehead and dragged him out and made him face Mikan.

"Ruka…." Mikan started off.

"Y-yes?" he stammered.

"What is your favorite planet in the Solar System?" She asked.

"Jupiter, why?" he asked.

"Because I am entrusting Hotaru in your care. You do one wrong thing, and I will fling you to Jupiter with the courtesy of my Invention No. 50: Human Launcher," she said, dragging an invention that looked like a paddle in the table tennis, had straps to strap the victim down, and a lever to fling the human toward any desired destination of Mikan, since she created the invention.

The room sweatdropped. "How…?" Ruka started.

"Hotaru made me an Alice Stone which I absorbed into my body, and due to my Unlimited Alice Shape, I obtained a new alice," Mikan said, wheeling the invention into a corner of her room.

"You are so much like Hotaru when you threaten people with inventions," Ruka gasped, hiding behind me.

Mikan and I glared at him for saying that we are very threatening, and he shrunk into a tiny ball. But then we laughed it out.

"Yeah," I heard Mikan dabbing a tear of laughing too much away, "I guess Hotaru and I are really one and the same."

"One and the same," I smiled at that.

"Hey, you guys, who switched Alice Stones?" Mikan smiled at everybody.

"I did!" Yuu stepped up with Nonoko.

I have to say one thing is that even Yuu opened up to forgiving everybody, but we made sure to stay away from Hyuuga.

"Oh my goodness!" Mikan squealed, "Who else?"

We showed her everybody who switched Alice Stones. Mikan smiled, laughed and congratulated all of us for successfully swapping stones.

"And you? What about you? Did you swap Alice Stones?" Sumire asked her eagerly.

"Yeah, I did, lil' sis," Mikan laughed it all out; "I swapped mine with Youichi."

And from underneath the collar from her middle school uniform, she pulled out a thin gold chain containing a fat Emerald Green Alice Stone.

We congratulated her, as she blushed with a tint of light pink on her cheeks. I'm glad she will be with Youichi forever.

"So, uh, we know you forgave Hotaru, but will you forgive the rest of us?" Ruka stepped out of his tiny ball position.

"Yeah! I am over that now, you're forgiven! All of you!" Mikan smiled.

We cheered and then we heard a voice we would love to drain down the gutters.

Hyuuga.

"And me? What about me, Mikan?" the hoarse voice taunted her.

Man he got on my nerves so much, I brought my baka canon so I can shoot him to PLUTO.

"Get out of here, Hyuuga," I hissed at him.

"No," he slithered.

"I'm never going to forgive you, Hyuuga. After what you did to me, cheating on me several times even before you kissed Luna, then when I came back, you forced me to dance the Last Dance with you, and then you sent me emails of THREAT that I better swap my Alice Stones with you or god-knows-what-might-happen to me. I am sick and tired of your possessiveness, and do not feel any love in you. I swapped my Alice Stone with Youichi, and danced the Last Dance with him twice. It's over, Hyuuga, I am written to be with Youichi, not you," Mikan said.

I smiled smugly at him, in victory.

"You WHAT?" he bellowed and then sent fire to surround us all.

"Rina! Quick! Use my Nullification Stone to nullify Hyuuga's Alice!" She screamed.

Rina lifted for the necklace and grabbed the orange stone in her hand and concentrated in putting out the fire. It was successful. Within seconds, she put a Nullification Boundary around us all.

When Hyuuga made several attempts to hurt us, he charged at us and tried to hurt us with his fists.

"Oh no you don't!" Rina screamed.

She created a barrier around all of them, so that when Natsume charged at them, he hit his head first and couldn't lay a finger on us.

"I remember my words, Hyuuga. I will never hand her over to you. She has suffered so much from you, you a person who couldn't keep his own promises straight. I don't think I want Mikan to suffer because of you," I spat out dark words.

"Who are you to decide that?" Hyuuga shot back.

"You heard her. This is the reason I have complete trust in her," Mikan did not even cry in front of him.

"How can you leave me?" Hyuuga roughly whispered.

"How could you cheat me?" Mikan shot back.

"…" was his response.

"How could you separate Hotaru from me?" Mikan shot again.

"…"

"How could you forbid me from being with my own friends? Even some girls?" She said, hurt building in her voice, not because she was melting down in front of him, but she wanted him to feel ashamed.

"…" was that entire useless brat had to say?

"I knew it. You have no answer. This is why I knew you weren't the one for me," Mikan monotonously said.

He was speechless.

"Leave, Hyuuga. I know I am going to come this summer for a month, but don't let your head get filled air that I am going to come back to you running in your arms. I came here for my other friends, and to spend time with them. This is why I worked hard to become an Honor Student," she darkly eyed him.

The whole room was pin drop silent, as Hyuuga and Mikan gave a glaring contest.

I almost wanted to hit him. How dare he try to glare at her? Everyone knows Mikan can't handle this!

But to my surprise, she kept her ground, and never EVER left her eyes filled of hate, hurt, anger, revenge, and all the negative things in this world, off of Hyuuga.

When this went on forever, Hyuuga finally knew that Mikan will never come back to him again.

I want to feel sorry for him, even if it meant putting a hand on his shoulder and comforting him.

Because no matter what he did to Mikan, he lost a true love.

But the reason I restrain myself, is he sinned love Himself.

He defied cupid, and became a scorner of love.

Like Narcissus, who scorned the love all the young nymphs presented before him.

He hurt Mikan, in such a way that made a scar that no power can heal.

He damaged her mentally and physically so much, she almost went mad.

How can I entrust my Mikan to him?

He might treat her like before, only worse now.

I guess my words before were harsh, but I don't regret it. I mean every single word I yelled, spat, glowered and glared to him.

Time passed like minutes and he relaxed his uptight position and let his eyes leave Mikan. He looked at the rest of us. We were still enraged with his barging in and charging at us for no real reason.

He looked at the ground, spun on his heels, tapped all the way to the door, opened it, went outside, and silently closed it, and soft footsteps became softer and softer until no voice could be heard.

"We're sorry about that, Mikan," I apologized.

"No, no need. After all, you guys wanted to talk to me. I know he just came to force me into thinking false stuff," she waved a hand in indifference, her hard expression.

Yuu cleared his throat, and said, "Now, Mikan-chan, where were we…..?"

Mikan smiled once more and we continued our family-like chat. At least we knew when she was coming, and that was very much soon.

When it was too late in the night, we yawned a goodbye to her and turned off the projection, before parting our ways.

Rina said she was too scared of ghosts and heard this one version of Bloody Mary from her weird classmates, so she said she wanted to sleep next to me.

I gave in, and let her snuggle beside me. I had to say, her bubbly personality is so much like Mikan, before all of the pressure hit her like a ton of bricks.

Before she became a person that she couldn't change.

**America, Mikan's POV**

I shut off my projector, and fell into my bed with a sigh of frustration.

Youichi came into my bedroom because he heard a huge commotion coming here.

"Mikan, you allright? Did you pick a fight with your friends?" he smirked.

"Not now, Youichi," I groaned, in a serious tone.

"So what happened? I thought it was a conversation between you and your friends," he asked, confusion masking his face.

I turned to face him, and whispered to him, "It was, until Hyuuga ruined it."

His expression darkened, "What?"

"After Valentine's Day, he sent me emails of threat saying that if I don't comply in exchanging Alice Stones with him, he'll have my head," I told him. I shook out of fear.

"Why that LITTLE-!" He balled up his fists.

"And I told him today that I did the stone exchange with you, and he got so angry at me, I wonder if he will really hurt me. Youichi, I'm so scared," I trembled.

"Now I have an urge to kill him. Who is he to threaten you like that?" Youichi fumed.

"I don't know, Youichi, I don't know. But don't hurt him. For my sake, please don't. Don't worry. I will stay strong and not give him into him and his playboy ways. But just ignore him, if you hate him that much. Please do it for my sake, if you love me," I pleaded with him.

"Fine. I'll try to tolerate him. But only you asked me to. He lays one finger on you, you tell ME," he emphasized the last word.

I shivered at that word. What is he gonna do?

He must've read my mind because he gave me a charming smile while saying, "If he EVER lays a finger on you, then I will definitely make sure he doesn't get to see the living lights."

I shivered at this. "God, Youichi, now you are making me scared."

He was smiling, and his sweet-sounding voice carried dark intentions. Creepy.

"My measures of protectiveness," he said, whilst smiling that creepy charming smile.

I shuddered, but reached a hand forward to stroke his cheek and play with his silver colored hair.

Sometimes, I have to say he knows how to make me feel safe.

And when he does, all my pain erases, like an eraser erasing a pencil mark.


	10. Learning To Let Go

**[America, Mikan's POV]**

I packed all of my stuff that I might need on my visit to Japan.

I had worked so hard to become an Honor Student. And to think that out of all of the prizes and privileges that an Honor Student can get, I chose to visit my friends and family back in Gakuen Alice?

And who is Hyuuga to misinterpret my visit as a way to throw myself into his arms and wail to be with him again, please? Please? With a cherry on top?

Asking to be with him again is like asking myself to go into a lake and drown.

It is like giving me giving myself a death invitation.

And I don't want that, not after I found the characteristics of a true love in Youichi.

I looked at the bazooka. Will I need it?

But then again, there are no idiots to hit. Yes, there is. Hyuuga (In case if he threatens me).

So I gave in and placed the steel box shut carefully with the Baka Gun in it, beside my luggage.

"You finally done?" Youichi asked with a bored tone.

"Were you watching me pack?" I asked, through the corner of my eyes.

"What do you need the Baka Gun for?" He said, completely oblivious to my question.

"To hit Hyuuga in case if he tries to possess me again," I said with indifference, as I put a checklist of my stuff in my carry-on.

The atmosphere darkened and ghosts filled the air at the word of Hyuuga.

"But do know that I can fling him to another galaxy if he tries lay a finger on me," I abruptly said.

The atmosphere lightened a bit when I told him that.

"And we danced the Last Dance twice and exchanged Alice Stone, so I am written to be with you, share my Alice Stone with you only and dance the Last Dance with you only. I am yours, and you are mine," I convinced him truthfully.

Thankfully the atmosphere became completely normal, and two pairs of strong arms wrapped themselves around my waist, and a head with silver hair nudged itself into my neck.

"Promise?" he asked.

"Promise," I laughed.

Then he dragged me over to the bed.

"Wh-what do you think you're doing?" I laughed between giggles.

"Going to bed with my teddy bear," he said like a three-year-old.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Just kidding, go to bed. You are expected to be at the airport by 9:30, as your flight leaves at 10 in the morning tomorrow, so I want to enjoy all the time I get with you before you are gone for a month," he said, pulling me in close.

I smiled and gave in. I hugged him this time, to make myself comfortable. I was already done with packing.

[Next morning]

I opened my sleepy chocolate eyes and squirmed in his iron grip enough for me to see the alarm clock.

8:30 a.m.

I could hear Hannah yelling for me to wake up, because I wouldn't want to be late.

"Stupid…loud…hag…" he mumbled in his sleep.

"Youichi, don't say that about Hannah. She is yelling because she doesn't want me to be late," I scolded him.

He just huffed and resumed his beauty sleep.

I sighed and took two hands and tickled his weak spot. AGAIN.

He then had to let go of his grip on me and rolled over, hit the ground and laughed for god knows how long.

"Not my fault. I have to get to the airport," I shrugged.

I went in and changed into a long, white summer dress that fell right under her knees, and a pure white trench coat.

(Her trench coat: /product/312223?cm_sp=we_recommend-_-312223-_-slot1)

I also put on laced up boots, and a blue scarf for finishing look, not that I am all about dressing up.

"Why the bundle?" Youichi asked.

"The airlines is always cold," I shivered, even in my coat.

"True," He nodded.

And with that, I took my luggage and Baka Gun. Youichi trailed after me, with my other bag, even when I insisted him no.

We got into the limo, Hannah and Mike insisted they would come.

I opened my bag to make sure I have my passport, visa, and boarding passes.

I did, and I zipped up my bag with a sigh of relief.

When we got to the airport, I hugged Hannah and Mike goodbye, and gave Youichi a long hug and a kiss promising to be safe and sound and not do stupid things. (He really did make me promise him that).

I went through the Security Checkpoint and was so relieved when my Baka Gun, with much explanation, got through as clear.

I waited at Gate 91, awaiting my flight to Japan. I took out my phone and texted Hotaru.

_Hota-chan, I am waiting at my Gate for the flight to Tokyo, Japan! Can't wait to see you!_

Minutes later she responded,

_I can't wait to hug you too, silly! Text me when you get here in Tokyo!_

I texted, _Okay! ;)_

I shut my phone off when an announcer called for anyone in Gate 91 boarding now for Tokyo, Japan, to line up.

First to board was the First Class, which was me.

I lined up with a handful of individuals and had my passport/visa and boarding pass.

The lady scanned my boarding pass, ripped off majority of my ticket (thus leaving me with my ticket stub) and checked my passport before ushering me in.

I strolled in with my two luggage bags and my Baka Gun case strapped to the top of one of them.

I put up my luggage in the overhead compartment, and took my window seat, hugging close my Baka Gun case.

Thirty minutes later, after the Economy Class and the Third Class boarded in, the plane finally budged, and after a long ten minutes, accelerated into a breathtaking fast speed and took off.

_I can't wait to see you, Hotaru!_

Several hours later and eating such a condensed dinner (by the way was so bland), the plane did a touchdown. The plane grumbled as the plane vibrated, jiggling everyone inside it.

"Urghh," I woke up from my peaceful slumber.

I stirred and found my arms latched tightly around the Steel Case. I peeled my arms off of it and held the case by the handle on it. I dragged down my two luggage bags and strapped my steel case to one of them and took my bags in either hand.

When I stepped into the airport, I was feeling the urge to tell a worker that they should put a huge banner with, "WELCOME TO TOKYO".

But then again, it would be my practical joke.

I went through the Security Checkpoint and had to give a LONG lecture about that this weapon is completely harmless.

They even pulled a test subject for me to prove my point.

After a lot of arguing, they huffed and puffed (didn't blow my house down, though!) and let it through.

Heaving a sigh of frustration, I finally came out of the airport to see Hotaru, Ruka, Yuu and little Rina waiting for me.

"Seriously, why are you bundled up?" Hotaru mused.

"The airplane is so cold," I explained, and sneezed.

"Ah! Sakura-san! How are you doing?" Ruka gave me a hug.

"Good, you?" I accepted the quick hug, and broke it to find Rina latching onto my leg.

"Good!" Ruka beamed.

"Ahahahaha! Rina! That tickles! Stop it!" I laughed.

"She missed you, you know that? She practically kept a countdown until her big sister comes back," Yuu joked.

"Aww, Rina, thanks! But I need to load my luggage in the car, no, limo, k?" I giggled.

"Okay!" Rina cheered.

I got my luggage into the limo, all of us got in and with much whining, Rina finally won the right to snuggle up on my lap.

I stroked her and talked to the others.

"You do not know how much the others miss you. Just wait and see," Hotaru smiled brightly.

"What do you mean, 'Just wait'?" I asked. They are planning a surprise, maybe.

"Hotaru said to just wait and see what might be the best surprise," Ruka smiled, only to get nudged in the ribs.

"What was that for?" Ruka gasped dramatically.

"Now that you said the word, 'surprise', she is probably racking her brain for the specific definition!" Hotaru snapped.

"Ohhhhh…." Ruka finally understood.

Mikan chuckled as Hotaru slapped her forehead. Yuu tried to suppress giggles.

But failed considerably.

He broke out into a wave of laughs, startling Ruka.

"Are you laughing at me?" Ruka stuttered.

"Who ELSE would I laugh at?" Yuu giggled, wiping away tears of laughing too much.

"That's not funny!" Ruka turned beet red.

_Click!_

Everyone was silent as a stone. Even Rina had to find out why the stroking stopped. When she saw Hotaru with a camera, she also froze.

"Not bad, Bunny Boy, looks like I just met my next major income," Hotaru smiled.

"What?!" Ruka gasped.

"And the money I make I will use on getting Mikan's birthday gift, as I missed her real birthday somewhere in May," Hotaru slipped the camera in her bag.

"Can I come with you, Hotaru-nee?" Rina energetically asked.

"Sure. I think it would be a mandatory thing for you, since you really have a good taste in picking gifts, Rina," Hotaru patted Rina's head.

Rina happily agreed to give in all of her help and to help with the sales of the picture.

Ruka was basically frozen for the rest of the car road trip, and Yuu snickered at how ridiculous Ruka looked when he was drop-dead frozen.

The limo pulled to a stop in front of a huge Academy. Yeah, you could guess it was Japan's Gakuen Alice.

"Home sweet home," Hotaru smiled.

She helped me with my stuff, and saw the Baka Gun case among my few luggage that I brought with me.

"Mikan, you brought the Baka Gun that I gave to you, with you?" Hotaru almost spilled tears of happiness.

"Of course, silly! That is my favorite gift among all of my belongings. Did you know that everywhere I went in America, that gun came with me?" Mikan smiled.

"Oh, Mikan! The first person to admire my inventions truly!" Hotaru cried and gave Mikan a big hug.

She then sniffed tears of joy as she broke it and took one of my bigger luggage, letting me carry my Baka Gun myself.

When we opened the gates, we walked to the girl's dormitory, when Yuu remembered all of the rooms in the section of the dormitory being taken up.

Then Hotaru happily said that I am going to be with her in her room. I guess she took this chance to pounce to get closer to me. I smiled at this thought. Hotaru is one in a million for me.

I smiled and she led me to her triple star room and helped me unpack my stuff.

"Hey, Hotaru? Why aren't you a Special Star yet?" I asked.

"I got recommendation letters from all of the Special Stars except Hyuuga. I need just ONE more, and I don't have one, dammit," Hotaru was glum.

I smiled and put an envelope in her hand.

"What is this?" she asked eyes as big as saucers.

"The last letter you need. I am a Special Star in America, and I talked to uncle that if I give you a letter of recommendation to you, can it count, and he said yes. The HSP and MSP agreed. So give this letters and the other letters to Hii-sama and you will be promoted, okay?" I smiled.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Hotaru grabbed me into a big hug.

I laughed and hugged back, "That letter I worked on for nights in a row because you are such a special person to me."

She broke the hug and carefully tucked the letter I gave her with all of the other letters she got as a recommendation.

"Now that we unpacked, why don't we go to the Hana Hime Den to get you promoted?" I asked.

She happily nodded.

So she took all of her letters in her right hand, and we held hands with my right hand and her left hand and walked towards where Hii-sama was.

We walked and even ignored Hyuuga when we passed him.

When we got to the Hana Hime Den, Hii-sama happily greeted me.

"Mikan no kimi, my dear princess of this Hana Hime Den, what favor can I grant you?" she smiled.

I smiled and said, "My friend Hotaru has gotten all the recommendation letters she needs in order to become a Special Star."

"Is that so? Then tell her to give it to me, and I will promote her," she smiled the same.

"Go on and give Hii-sama the letters of recommendation," I whispered to Hotaru.

She nodded, and handed the letters to Hii-sama like I asked.

Hii-sama counted the letters, and satisfied, called my uncle to record her down as a Special Star, not a Triple Star.

He agreed, and said that her room is now changed to meet her Star Ranking.

Then Hii-sama handed me a Special Star pin and told me to change the badge for her.

Hotaru grinned from ear-to-ear as I slowly un-pinned the three stars, handed them to Hii-sama.

I then pierced the Special Star pin in the left collar of her Summar Uniform, where it is supposed to go. I closed off the pin by putting on the back of the pin on the other side, and then smiled.

"There, now finally your Star Ranking matches your level of intelligence," I smiled to her.

Tears of happiness spilled from her as she tackled me into a huge hug.

She then let me go, and I asked Hii-sama, "Since you did me a favor, would you like me to do you one before I leave for now?"

"Yes, Mikan no kimi. You see, HSP has sent me a gift of 5 longevity Alice Stones. But since you left, I started to become weaker and weaker. Could you, perhaps, insert these stones into me?" she asked politely behind her fan.

I smiled, and curtsied which was considered very ladylike and polite in the Hana Hime Den, "Yes, Hii-sama."

I took the five stones into my hand and with my left one I took it and used my Insertion Alice to put the stones, one by one, into her body.

Once all five stones were inside her body, a light blue glow surrounded her, and she looked a bit younger than before and much stronger as well.

Hii-sama breathed a sigh of relief when the light died down and didn't forget to thank me.

I smiled and bid her goodbye, along with Hotaru.

Ruka, Yuu, Nonoko, Anna, Koko, Kitsu, and Rina-chan were anxiously waiting for us right outside the Hana Hime Den.

I even saw Hyuuga sulking underneath a Sakura Tree, watching us.

"What happened in there?!" They all yelled.

"Guys! My eardrums!" I yelled back, annoyed.

They quietly said sorry, but were very expectant for their answer.

"I helped Hotaru get promoted to a Special Star. Look at her pin," I told them.

They looked and were shocked not to find three stars pinned on her collar, but a single Special Star pin on there.

They all hugged me and Hotaru, saying "Congratulations!" or "Thank you!"

Then they all let us go once the temperature went to unnatural levels of hot.

I knew who was it and summed it up into one word, "Hyuuga."

They all stiffened and sent glares towards him.

"You guys go. I'll handle him," I assured him.

They nodded and left for the inside of the building.

"What do you want, Hyuuga?" I spat.

To my surprise, he went for my neck, where the necklace was. Then a barrier around the necklace prevented him from ripping the Alice Stone away from me, and electrocuted his hand.

He crumpled to the ground, cursing himself.

"I said, what do you want, Hyuuga?" I glowered down onto him.

"Why are you doing this to me?" he groaned, getting up so he was now the taller one now. Normally I would've melted underneath his crimson eyes, because back then I was so weak and insecure.

He always did this to me whenever he felt like scolding me, like looking at another boy for just a fraction of a second. And he did unspeakable things with other girls, when we were in a relationship. How one-sided he was!

"I should be asking you that question," I said, not lightening my glare.

"Why?" he asked softly.

"Don't play dumb with me, Hyuuga. You do know how unfaithful you are. I couldn't talk to so many people just to make you happy, and you could do anything you want with any girl?" I glared, "I'm sick of you, you know that?"

"I did it for your best…" he started.

"You even separated Narumi-sensei from me, whom I considered my own father. You separated me from Hotaru, who I considered my own sister. You closed me off from my own UNCLE, have you no shame?! He is my only living relative by bloodline, and you just close me off from him? How dare you!" I was losing my patience now.

"But-!" He started.

"You would slap me whenever I did one slightest thing wrong. Whenever I talked to a guy for innocent things such as schoolwork, you would torture me until I coughed up blood. You locked me up for days in a dark, secluded room until I almost died of starvation. And if I tried to explain anything to you, you would strangle me until I almost died of lack of oxygen. Tell me, is this how a boy treats a girl?" I screamed in his face.

"But you loved me!" He gasped.

"No, I didn't love you. I never loved you. I just agreed to be by your side because you drew a boundary saying I am your property. I had to force smiles on my face so that no one else would be hurt, just to make you happy. But deep inside, I loathed you, and hated you. That just burst out the moment I saw you with Luna, the day you officially backstabbed me. And then I made a decision to become stronger and officially leave you," I glowered.

He was speechless.

"…"

"There were some words that my mother told me before she died. She said that a true lover will love me for my inner qualities. He will not force me into loving him back, and will give me all the time in the world until I finally return the feelings back. He will treat me just like he would like to be treated. He will keep me safe from every single harm and insecurity. He will always love me. Did you meet that? NO," I loudly taunted.

"…"

"You never loved me for my inner qualities, but liked me only because of my looks and my status of being a Hana Hime Member, HSP's niece, and his most trusted person in missions. You forced me into liking you or else a huge number of innocent students would be hurt. You didn't give me any time to think whether I wanted to be by your side or not. You treated me cruelly and expected me to treat you with modesty. You didn't even protect me from anything, so don't weave up a fake story about the times you did. You never loved me, but rather saw me as another piece of property to own," I glowered.

"Mikan…" He trailed off.

_SLAP!_

My palm was red from slapping his right cheek hard.

"Don't 'Mikan' me. You don't have that right anymore. You lost me forever," I snapped.

He looked at me, and with his right hand cupping his right cheek, his own eyes spilled tears, almost wanting to make me cry.

But I didn't.

I put a hand on his shoulder, softening up only a little.

"I hope this teaches you a lesson. I am now tied to Youichi, through Alice Stones, and the Last Dance. You lost me because of your own selfishness, because you wanted to own me," I started.

I peeled his hand off of his cheek and was surprised to see him completely covered in red welts. Hotaru must've done that.

I gave him a hug, but pulled out of it and said, "The closest thing we can ever be is friends or acquaintances. Nothing more."

I put my left hand on his right cheek and my right hand on his left shoulder and concentrated, breathe in and breathe out. I could feel wherever my hand was, another hand softly gripped mine, each of my hands, helping me concentrate on healing him.

A light spread from my hands and I managed to heal him externally and internally. When the light finally died down, I pulled my hands away and he didn't force me, when I pulled my own hands out of his.

"I hope you can stop this playboy act, Hyuuga, because it will never get you anywhere. It even made you lose me. Now, no matter how much I could try and convince myself now, I am not in love with you. I am tied to someone else," I explained.

He nodded, but filled of understanding this time.

"Find someone, find someone who you want to be with forever, and when you do, be soft with that girl, and patiently wait for that girl to love you back. Do all of those things I told you. Don't repeat the same scene again, or else it will be eternity before your heart emotionally heals again," I softly explained.

He nodded, but filled of tears. He even asked, "Can I have at least a hug?"

I gave in. This could be the first step into letting me go.

I nodded and leaned into his outstretched arms. When I put my arms around his neck, he put his arms around my waist, and buried his face in my shoulder.

I felt tears in my shoulder, and I let him silently cry for as long as he wanted.

Then he let me go, and told me one thing, "He better take care of you, and if he does one thing wrong, I will burn him into a pile of ashes."

He said that with a playful smirk on his face.

I laughed hard this time, and said, "Yeah, he will. Don't worry."

He then smiled at me and turned around and disappeared into the Northern Forest.

I spun on my heels and not once looking back, went to Class 2-B in a drenched trench coat.

Hotaru shot up and bombarded me with questions on did Hyuuga hurt me, touch me, sexually harass me, verbally abuse me, emotionally hurt me, or anything.

I smiled and softly told her, "He learned to let me go."

Hotaru put down her Baka Canon, "Why the sad departure?"

"Because getting over someone is hard to do. It was the same for you and Takashi, remember? For two years you were morose and glum over him rejected you on the spot. Then you met Ruka, and your scars healed, right? Same thing for Natsume. He just needs some time to find out someone else who he can really be with, and end his playboy acts for good," I explained.

"Okay, if that is what happened, I might not hurt him. But I am glad he is not forcing himself on you," Hotaru pointed out.

"Now could you all forgive Hyuuga?" I asked.

The whole classroom agreed, but said they would take their own time and forgive them when they were ready.

I was glad, that we could slowly stich up the holes we created when I was pushed out of Gakuen Alice.

And then we could let go of the past and move onto the future.

Just like we planned.


	11. Let The Sun Shine Down

[Natsume's POV]

I had turned around, after promising that if Youichi doesn't take care of Mikan, he will be nothing but ashes.

I savored the way Mikan laughed, and knew that after this, her laughs won't be for me. It will be for that guy who had constantly supported Mikan when she grieved over losing me.

And I knew that this guy, Youichi, deserves to be with Mikan a thousand times more than I do.

After her laughs that chimed like beautiful bells died down, I turned around and walked into the woods, and after that I heard her footsteps retreating in the opposite direction.

When I couldn't be seen, I snuck behind a tree and saw her walking away, that petite figure becoming smaller and smaller until she was disappeared into the school building.

I'm not skipping school, but everyone hates me. It might be some time before everyone gives in and forgives me.

And Ruka.

I bet the both of us will never become the same. No, not after I hurt Mikan like this, he might tolerate my presence, but he won't treat me like a brother again.

I damaged that high level of friendship between us through my selfishness.

Imai won't let me get a step closer to Ruka in fear that I might taint him with the same darkness I have.

This is my entire fault.

And this is further my fault because the bond that my mother, Kaoru, and Mikan's mother, Yuka, made will not be fulfilled.

They wanted the two of us to meet, to be together forever. And I just ruined it by torturing her to the point that she doesn't love me anymore, rather hate me instead. I just crumpled her heart by making her life seem like a bird in a cage.

And this is not what I meant to plan. It just happened on its own.

Fate just played its own Game of Chess, and decided that Mikan and I can't be together.

And for the rest of my life, whether I decide to be with anybody or not, I will mourn for all of the things I did to Mikan. I can only hope that Youichi is a lot different than me.

All I can do is mourn.

[Hotaru's room, not Natsume's POV anymore]

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Mikan stretched, as she changed into a nightgown right after a nice bath.

"So, Hotaru, like your Special Star room?" Mikan asked, taking her dirty clothes plus the coat and putting it in a laundry basket near her stuff.

"Like it? No. But love it? Heck, yeah!" Hotaru giggled.

The room was much bigger than a Triple Star Room, and in addition for Hotaru having an upgraded bedroom, bathroom, and now an upgraded kitchen, she also had her rooms in all shades of violet, to match her amazing taste in home decor.

She even had a Jacuzzi, which didn't surprise Mikan, since the DA condominium in Alice Academy America had a few of those.

Mikan wanted to go in the Jacuzzi with Hotaru, to relax later.

"Glad ya like it," Mikan giggled.

Just then there was a knock on the door.

When Mikan went to open it, she got three huge boxes labeled, "Ordered by Hotaru Imai, from the Print Shop."

"Hota-chan, what's this?" Mikan asked, completely taken off guard by the heaviness.

"Oh, those contain the copies of Ruka's embarrassing photo. We are gonna do the sale tomorrow, Rina's gonna help. Then the money made from the sale will go towards a nice late birthday present for you, don't you remember me saying that?" Hotaru asked.

"Oh yeah, I remember," Mikan remembered.

"Can you put them right here?" Hotaru asked.

Mikan nodded and did as she was asked.

"Good, thanks!" Hotaru smiled.

Mikan crawled onto the bed and the two talked so much about how much the two missed each other, and what the other missed during them being apart.

"I've made one goal while being in America. No make it two," Mikan said.

"What are those two?" Hotaru gently asked.

"First, I want to be a very good violin player. I want to see how far I can get, and become part of the London Symphony," Mikan said. Her violin skills were so good, that she got letters of recommendation from the best orchestras in the world, even the orchestra of her dreams. But she couldn't go, because she was still a student of Gakuen Alice.

"That's good. And when you make it, get me a ticket so that I can see it," Hotaru smiled.

"Yeah, I will. And the second one is that until I graduate, I will try my upmost best to become the Honor Student as many times as I can, so that I can visit you constantly, and that we will never be apart," Mikan yawned.

Hotaru's eyes watered at these touching words. Just imagine, how many times Mikan stood up at the time of the finals, studying until her brain wouldn't soak up any more material? Until her last strain of energy ran out, Mikan must've buried her head in books, probably over studying. All of this hard work was spent well when Mikan scored hundreds in all of her final exams, thus making her the new Honor Student.

And out of all of the prizes she could get for acing her exams, she chose a one month trip to come back to Gakuen Alice, to see all of her classmates here.

Tears spilled out of Hotaru's eyes and she pulled Mikan into a tight hug, catching Mikan off guard.

"You are probably the most selfless person I've ever met," Hotaru sobbed.

"Aww, Hotaru, don't say that! You are selfless too. You are the first one to treat me like I am not dirt in the ground, remember? After my parents died? You were the first person to extend your arm out and say the three words I wanted to hear the most, 'Let's be friends', right?" Mikan asked.

Hotaru remembered.

"And until I came to Alice Academy, you would try your upmost best to become the Honor Student so that you could always see me, though it was hard," Mikan reminded.

"Now it will be me who will work for the Honor Student title and come there for a month, all right?" Hotaru pressed.

"Okay," Mikan smiled.

"So we can always be together," they both said at the same time.

"We should get some sleep. I expect to start the revenue collecting business in my booth in the morning. Thank god I have summer vacation now, you know?" Hotaru mused.

"Yep," Mikan smiled.

The two tucked themselves in and silently snuggled up as they drifted into a sweet sleep.

[The next morning]

"Mikan, get up," Hotaru shook the sleepy auburn awake.

"Mm," Mikan mumbled.

She looked like a cute little child when she forced herself to sit up and rubbed her chocolate eyes.

"What time is it?" Mikan asked.

"Seven o'clock," Hotaru mumbled, because she too was sleepy.

"Is anyone AWAKE?" Mikan softly emphasized the last word.

"Nah, not yet, but I hate getting up late," Hotaru shrugged.

"Okay," Mikan got out of the bed and hurriedly dressed into a ruffled white blouse from Hollister, and put on denim shorts from the same place. Then she put on some moccasin flats.

She brushed, washed her face and combed her short, tousled hair.

"You can get ready now if you want," Mikan said, "I'll fix some breakfast."

"Wait, we don't have…. oh," Hotaru realized.

Mikan giggled and trotted into the kitchen. Hotaru shuffled into the bathroom to make herself presentable.

Mikan looked in the fridge and decided to make some scrambled eggs, French toast, and fry some bacon.

She made this, and then equally divided the scrambled eggs into two plates, put a French toast in each, three strips of fried bacon on each platter. She squirted some ketchup near the scrambled eggs to make it more appetizing to eat, since she refused to add salt. Then she poured two glasses of milk. Then she set the silverware and cleaned the dishes.

By the time she washed the last dish and put it on the drying rack, Hotaru came into the kitchen in her violet sundress, denim pants, and sandal flats.

"Woah…" Hotaru froze when she saw the food that Mikan laid out, "You made all of this?"

"Yep!" Mikan happily chirped, "Enjoy!"

The two sat down and ate silently. When the two finally finished and drank the last of the milk in the glass, Hotaru said, "Since when did you learn to cook this well?"

"Well, for the Special Stars in AAA, we lived in condominiums rather than dormitories. So there were kitchen in the condominiums. I just started to cook for myself and the other DA members, and eventually the skills of coming up with dishes became better and better, until I refined them," Mikan explained.

"Wow," Hotaru phased out. Until she saw the time in the kitchen clock.

8:30 a.m.

"Oh my god. Mikan! We gotta go! Let's teleport to the booth!" Hotaru dragged the boxes to the door.

Mikan effortlessly picked up two. Hotaru picked up one. They hooked arms and Mikan concentrated on going outside, where Hotaru's booth was.

When they got there, they saw an impatient Rina there in the small but well-built booth.

"Mikan-nee! Hotaru-nee! For a second I thought that you were not gonna come!" Rina slid off the table and eagerly came to help the two girls with the boxes.

"Rina, they're heavy. We don't want them to crush you to death," Mikan huffed underneath two boxes load.

"Yeah," Hotaru agreed.

They put the three boxes there and Mikan decided to help Hotaru with unpacking the photos. When they were done, Hotaru told Mikan she helped a lot, and that she should now just enjoy herself.

"Don't worry, Mikan. You go have some fun. If Ruka sees you here, he will get the wrong idea that you are helping me blackmail him. Rina is going to help me sell these," Hotaru smiled.

Rina gave a cheery smile and agreed.

"Come back in three hours!" Hotaru reminded.

"Well, okay… if you're sure about this," Mikan looked at her watch which was wired to Japan's time. It read: 9:00 a.m.

"K, I guess I will be back by noon," Mikan said.

"Bye!" Hotaru's voice became muffled as Mikan walked off, and partly the reason of a huge crowd of customers to by a picture of Ruka's beet-red face.

Mikan smiled, and decided to go to central town.

She looked into her bag. She had some rabbits that she had to personally see her uncle for. This was just for her one month stay.

"Hmmm…..what should I buy?" Mikan wondered aloud.

Then she was right next to the Howalon Shop, and she remembered that America doesn't make Fluff Puffs this good, so she walked in and walked out right after paying for a medium box.

She strolled around, slowly chewing her treat; wanting to stretch every rabbit she spent. Nothing tastes better than home.

Home. That word felt confusing to her.

Because she doesn't know where on this Earth she belongs.

"I guess I'll have to play around and find out," Mikan whispered.

She finally finished her treat, and decided to browse through the shops. She found a lot of cute stuff like scarves and dresses, but she was never really interested in them since Hannah forced her through a shopping spree in America, basically killing her interest for brand new clothes.

But hey, some window shopping doesn't hurt.

After looking at some stores, Mikan looked at her wristwatch.

Oh no.

11:50 a.m.

It would be impossible to get to Hotaru's booth in just ten minutes!

Thank god she obtained the Instant Teleportation Alice through her SECI Alice.

In a second, she teleported from her current spot to a few feet away from Hotaru's booth.

The mob didn't die down until Hotaru announced, "We're out of pictures!"

A huge groan sounded and the students cleared up.

"Mikan! You're just in time! We are done with the sales! They sold out quick!" Hotaru exclaimed.

"Then how come I see one picture in your pocket?" Mikan whispered.

"I bought one. I always keep a copy of the blackmailed picture," Hotaru said, a light pink tinting her cheeks.

"Of RUKA, you do," Mikan mused.

Hotaru blushed a deep shade of red, and Rina chan came from behind her hugging several bags of rabbits.

"Mikan-nee! Look at all of the rabbits we got through the sale!" Rina gestured the bags she was lugging around.

"Wow!" Mikan gasped. But then again, Hotaru always runs out of pictures to sell of Ruka.

"And now, this money is all going toward presents towards you. Wait till you see what we all plan to get you!" Hotaru exclaimed.

"Us?" Mikan was bewildered.

"Your friends, silly goose!" Hotaru laughed.

"Oh," Mikan was feeling embarrassed herself.

"Well, Mikan, bye! I'll call you later. Answer your cellphone!" Hotaru gestured a temporary cell phone for Mikan to use.

"Okay," Mikan smiled. She pocketed the phone, and watched as Hotaru used her phone to call everyone to central town.

The two went off, leaving Mikan behind.

Mikan, the poor girl, now knew she couldn't bother her fellow friends, or else she knew she would ruin the surprise that they planned for her. And at that point, it isn't a surprise.

Then again, she was part of the Hana Hime Den. She was Mikan no Kimi, her flower was the Jasmine Flower, despite the flower meaning behind her own name.

So she went to her room, dressed into her Hana Hime kimono which was made of pure white silk with patterns of Jasmine flowers on it, took her Hana Hime fan which was as elaborative as Hii-sama's, her flower hair pin (placed neatly on her head), her Jasmine dagger in her left sleeve, and her cellphone (put on silent) in case if Hotaru tries to call her at the end of the day. She put this up her right sleeve.

She then went to the Hana Hime Den by teleporting there.

Hii-sama warmly greeted her and was further elated to see Mikan decked in her Hana Hime traditional attire, properly.

"Mikan no Kimi, come, take a seat. Let's all enjoy a nice day together! I see that you have nothing else to do. Your friends must be planning a nice surprise. We have, as well!" Hii-sama greeted.

Mikan smiled, took her respected seat next to Hii-sama as her own right hand (since Kakitsubata-senpai graduated from Gakuen Alice). She took her fan and hid her jaw behind it, in the same manner as Hii-sama.

"Yes, Hii-sama!" Mikan smiled.

The ladies of the Hana Hime Den had a nice day of eating elegant pieces of cake, desserts, and finally tea.

When they were sipping tea, Hii-sama passed a wrapped box to Mikan, "Open it."

Mikan opened it, and found a White Lily fan, White Lily dagger, White Lily clip, and a White Lily kimono (silk as well).

Mikan looked at Hii-sama with eyes as big as saucers. Was she switching flower names?

"Your mother, Azumi Yuka, was a member of the Hana Hime Den when she was in Gakuen Alice," Hii-sama started off.

Mikan gaped.

"Her Hana Hime name was Yuzu no Kimi, and her designated flower was the White Lily," Hii-sama continued.

Mikan was starting to piece everything together.

"And this kimono, fan, dagger and clip was what she wore during her Hana Hime days," Hii-sama concluded.

Mikan's eyes started to well up in happiness. Something that her mother had owned had been passed down to her.

"My dear Jasmine Princess, don't cry. I know what it is like losing her, but she wouldn't like seeing her star crying now, would she?" Hii-sama comforted Mikan by hugging her.

Mikan sniffed, but smiled at Hii-sama with pure happiness.

It was getting dark, so Hii-sama said goodbye to Mikan and sent her off with the package of her Mother's belongings.

Mikan went to her and Hotaru's room, unlocked the room, and put the wrapped package deep in her luggage in the safest corner, and changed out of her Hana Hime attire and into the same attire she wore before the visit to the Hana Hime Den.

She then took a stroll, with Hotaru's cell in her pocket, when it buzzed in her pocket.

Curious, she picked it up.

"Hotaru?" she asked.

"Hey Mikan!" she said on the other end.

"Hey, you coming?" Mikan asked.

"Yeah, just a minute! I will be in the room in twenty minutes, okay?" Hotaru asked.

"All right," Mikan shrugged.

Bip!

Mikan went to their room and took a shower, put on nightgown, and read a book in bed, waiting for Hotaru.

**Hotaru's POV**

I ended the call, and then said to the others, "Quick, hide the presents!"

The headmaster, after much pleading, gave us a storage room to put all of our presents. After we filed up the gifts, we shut the room closed and locked it by punching in the password to seal it locked.

Then we all split up, going to our own dorms.

I went to my dorm and guessed that Mikan was probably waiting for me.

And I was right.

The moment I unlocked the door, Mikan was tucked into bed neatly reading a book.

"Hey, Hota-chan. It's been a long day," she smiled.

"Yup! Gonna take a shower," I smiled to cover up my mixed emotions of humongous relief that she didn't suspect what I was up to.

I filled the bath, with foaming bubbles and programmed the bath to smell like my favorite fragrance, sandalwood.

I sighed and melted into the bath. It sure is awesome being a Special Star.

I owe Mikan for completing the last step in order for me to be upgraded.

Big time.

After some time, I felt this bath was enough, and got out, dried myself, dressed myself in a lace nightgown and drained the bath.

After cleaning up myself, I walked into my bed and snuggled into it.

Mikan did the same once she saw me tucked into the bed, and switched off the bedside lamp.

"You will love tomorrow," I said.

"Really?" she mused.

"Really," I confirmed.

"Then I'll take your word for it," she smiled.

After a while, we both drifted off to sleep.

But one thing is for sure. She will have the time of her life the very next day.


	12. Unbreakable Bonds

**Hotaru's POV**

I woke up with a start.

My quick senses told me it is 6 in the morning. Great!

I promised I would meet them at 7 in the morning. No time to waste.

Slowly and reluctantly I unwrapped myself from the bed and slid my arms off of Mikan when I hugged her throughout the night.

We are NOT a couple; this is just a sister to sister thing. Don't you dare have speculations about this or else I will fling you with my Baka Canon.

I ran my hand over her small bob cut, which was identical to her mother's. I saw it in a picture of them, all three of them smiling together.

If only they were a nice family, then I know Mikan would be so happy. Why does fate have to be cruel?

This thought kept haunting me as I trotted into the bathroom and did everything to wipe away the suspicions that I would rather prefer sleeping next to Mikan than help planning her birthday party.

I bet those students she lives with in her condominium don't know when her birthday is.

Truth is, I am insistent on having a nice party for Mikan because she never got a chance to celebrate every year she became older.

It was that, or people must've hated her so much to the point that they don't want to celebrate her becoming of age.

I was completely ready, and before leaving, I ate breakfast (milk and cereal) and left a note for Mikan on the nightstand table.

I took the room key which I strung on a hook attached to a lanyard, and strung it around my neck. Mikan has the duplicate key.

I obscured the key from view and locked the door before stepping out and closing it.

I jogged up to the large room that we were going to have Mikan's surprise party in.

It took a lot of begging, but HSP knew that Mikan never had the real joy of having a birthday party, allowed us to use the spacious room.

I went in there, and everybody pounced onto me with questions.

"Hey! Easy! I slipped out of my room to meet you, and this is what I get?" I hysterically yelled.

"Sorry, Imai. We are just curious how we are going to decorate in such a short time! I mean, she is probably an early riser!" Koko yelled out concern.

"_We are going to use my invention No.82: Instant Party Decorator," _Koko mind read me.

I glared at him and he just smirked, continued to mind read me.

"_Koko, if you dare to continue reading my mind I will twist all your joints so you get to go to the hospital for a year non-stop…" _Koko's face drained color when he read my threat right out of my mind.

"Hehe… oops," he nervously chuckled.

I smirked at him, and then wheeled in the Instant Party Decorator.

We loaded the party decorative items into the machine, and then I pressed the ON button and let it work wonders on the room.

This just gave us time to sit around and talk. We went to the storage shed and took the presents out.

The room was done decorating, and on one decorated table, we put the presents on there, piling into a mini-mountain.

As for the cake, I pulled Ruka with me to the bakery.

I made bunny boy pay half of the price for the cake. Knowing Mikan loves all shades of blue, bright violet, and emerald green, I bought a two-layered bright violet cake.

The top layer was chocolate flavored, and the bottom layer was vanilla flavored.

I bought a pack of 13 candles, which would be enough for her 13th birthday.

I made Ruka hold the cake and the pack of candles, and got my swan scooter to take us back to the room which we reserved for Mikan's birthday.

She is going to love my birthday gift the most.

Ruka and I settled the cake on the table, and I did the honors of opening the box, and carefully putting on thirteen candles on the cake, with the lighter and knife a safe foot away from the cake.

We then talked, waiting for our Birthday Girl to come at any moment.

**Mikan's POV**

It was around 7:30 when I finally relented in getting up.

I stretched up, and extended my arms to where Hotaru was, in the intentions of hugging her.

But to my upmost surprise, I was greeted by cold, empty space next to me.

Where was she?

Then to the right of me, I saw a card on the nightstand. I reached over and opened the card and read:

_Mikan,_

_I was feeling a little bit restless, so around 7:00 in the morning, I left to take a stroll around outside._

_I hope that you are not angry at me for leaving on such a short notice._

_When you are awake, get ready and meet me in Room 123B, at 8:30 a.m.!_

_See you then! _

_Love,_

_Hotaru_

I smiled. So that was it. Hotaru was just feeling a little restless.

Thank god it was nothing major. I took a deep breath and then went into my wardrobe in search of something decent to wear.

I then showered, combed, dried, brushed, and dressed. Finally I put a whiff of my favorite strawberry flavored perfume on me. The one that Youichi gave me.

I put on my boots and then taking the room key strung on a lanyard just like Hotaru's, I stepped out and locked the room door behind me.

I put the lanyard around my neck and hid the key from view. My phone was in my pocket, and I went to the room she told me to go to.

Room 123B, huh?

It took me some time, a lot of searching, and some verification, but finally I found the room with the placard of Room 123B.

That room was usually the vacant room, the one that uncle NEVER allows anyone to use, unless that certain someone was really good at begging, then yes, that room has a use.

With a deep breath, I composed myself and opened the door.

It was dark for a second until the lights were flicked on, and the next thing I registered was:

"SURPRISE!"

Bewildered, I took a look around. Hotaru, Ruka, Yuu, Sumire, Koko, Kitsu, Anna, Nonoko, Mochiage, and even little Rina were there, greeting me with big smiles on my face.

Then it hit me, the whole room was decorated, a cake on a table, pizza on another with chairs lined up around it, a special spot for me there, and another table with a mini-mountain of gifts.

They planned a party for me! How sweet!

"_They planned a party for me! How sweet!" _Koko read my mind.

I glared at him, and put a Nullification Barrier around me, so that he was unable to read my thoughts anymore. They are my personal property.

Koko whined at the loss, but I shrugged with indifference and went on to hug Hotaru and thank her.

"Hota-chan, all of you guys, thanks! My first birthday party," I voiced out.

She heard this and fought all the courage to let tears drip.

But rather than that, she smiled.

A bright warm smile that I thought was occluded by all of her past events.

I thought she had lost her smile for good when that village boy jerk, Takashi, rejected her.

She was usually warm before that, and then when that jerk broke her heart by turning his back to her confession, she fell apart. For the rest of the time in our village she was lonely and came to my house frequently to get some comfort.

At Gakuen Alice, she mourned for two years over being broken hearted. She even put on an icy mask and an attitude of I-do-not-care when she was not in my arms, crying inconsolably.

I thought she was lost to me, and I feared that more when Natsume tried to separate the both of us.

I couldn't believe it that I was really losing her. Losing me would put her in a state of depression with frequent suicidal thoughts.

But no matter what the events brought, she only wished for to be with me as sisters.

We even made the unbreakable bond, promising that whoever we marry, we will make sure that our children will meet.

I did this because I was scared that I lost Natusme because Kaoru and Yuka (Natsume's and my mother) made a bond for us to be together, and we couldn't fulfill it.

So Hotaru made sure I could make the same bond this time, and fulfill it for good.

"Happy birthday Mikan. Today you aren't a child," Hotaru hugged me. Soon she will be a grown up as well.

I hugged back, and then greeted the rest of the friends that were waiting there.

I smiled at Yuu, hugged the twins, hugged Sumire as well as an air kiss, hit Koko on the head for mind reading me, gave Kitsu noogies for laughing while Koko mind reading me, and greeted Mochiage (glad he changed a lot from bossy to whiny).

We sat down and ate pizza first. We ate mushroom hand tossed pizzas, since Hotaru knew me in my little book of pleasures that I love hand tossed mushroom pizzas.

We had Fresca with that (my favorite drink), and no one seemed to mind, since it tasted good. The only club soda that had addicting taste was Fresca.

And then it was time for Cake.

Hotaru lighted the cake, insisting on doing the honors.

They sang the birthday song, and voiced out their wishes for me to be happy when I turn into a teen, and it really warmed up my heart to know that they really do care.

The cake was violet! It was a double layered cake. I wondered what flavors they are.

"I picked it out," Hotaru had a proud smile on her face.

"And I had to pay half of the price of it!" Ruka whined.

"Watch what you blabber, Bunny Boy," Hotaru glared at him.

Ruka shrunk into a teeny tiny ball and promised he would mind his words.

I laughed at this. They are a funny pair.

I pulled out the candles and then took the knife, and cut a small piece from the top (it was chocolate) and a small piece from the bottom (it was vanilla).

I put that onto my plate and then ate a tiny bite from each. Hotaru is excellent at picking out stuff when it comes to me. She knows my secrets: likes/dislikes, pleasures/displeasures, strength/weaknesses, secrets, past, personality, and my haunting insecurities.

"It is perfect," I smiled to Hotaru. She smiled, happy that she got the perfect cake for me.

Then I cut a piece of chocolate and a piece of vanilla each for everyone. When we had all eaten our pieces of cake, we went to the gifts and I opened Yuu's first.

From Yuu I got a brand new laptop.

From Ruka I got a fact book on animals (so like him).

From Sumire, she gave me Nicole nail polish set, heavily claiming that the bright violet one was the most expensive out of the line of Nicole.

From Anna, she gave me a cookbook of the new "In" recipes.

From Nonoko, she gave me a chemistry set.

From Koko, he gave me prank gel. Perfect on pulling perfect tricks on others.

Kitsu gave me a flying helmet. Will I ever use that?

Mochiage gave me a pair of Levitation Gloves. Put them on, and then you will be able to levitate objects. Never loses power.

From Rina-chan, my little sister, she gave me a bright blue watch of Nike brand. Theirs are so expensive! How in the world did she afford that? Oh right, the profits.

And finally Hotaru. She was the one who had a gigantic box next to her and pulled it away, claiming she wants to, "Save the best for the last."

I opened hers, because I had no more un-opened gifts. Another one of her inventions.

And it was so cute!

Apparently she used up her share of the profits to buy metals, wires, screws, bolts, etc. to craft it into my gift! It was a flying dove scooter! It runs on nothing, probably she used a lot of her Alice again, and made sure it flies without any need of gasoline or magic fuel (whatever).

"Oh Hotaru," I cried as I hugged her.

She smiled, and said, "We will be using the warp hole to make sure these gifts get teleported to your room in the condominium."

I nodded.

I released her and she took out the teleporter key, and focused on the teleporter to visualize my room.

It came, and the gifts were piled into a pile (they were re-wrapped for some reason) and the gifts disappeared from this room and re-appeared in my room in America.

"Now you don't have to give lectures to the stupid security checkpoint officers," Hotaru smiled.

I nodded and knew she read me like a book the moment I came out of the airport and gave off an air of frustration.

She probably knew that I had to ease myself past those officers who nearly blew their top off again.

I said many thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful gifts that they gave me, and everyone went and left the room.

Hotaru pulled me to the Central Town and I protested, "Hotaru, don't we have to clean that mess up?"

"Chill. I sent a robot now to clean it up like we never used it in the first place," Hotaru smiled.

"Thanks, you know," I smiled at her.

"Mm? For what?" she mused a smile.

"I…uh…never REALLY had a celebration for my birthday like this before," I clarified my point.

"Didn't your grandfather or your adoptive family throw you some?" Hotaru asked.

"Well, yeah, but those were like a cupcake and then two or three gifts, and usually I ate the cupcake and opened the gifts by myself. No one really had the time to spend in putting together my party and surprising me with it and then staying with me while I enjoy the party. Not like the ones you guys gave me. I truly loved it," I said sincerely because it really was true.

Hotaru's purple eyes softened when she heard that I was happy.

"Stop it, stupid, you are making me cry. We did this because no matter what, we all love you," she smiled, and I could see that she was fighting to cut back on her tears.

"I know, I am just glad that we are still unchanged even though the past incidents had gone by," I said.

She nodded. She knew what I was talking about.

My parent's death.

Grandpa's death.

Hotaru's love confession to Takashi rejected.

Going to Gakuen Alice.

Two-year-period of Hotaru's icy mask and constant breakdowns on me.

Natsume tries to own me like an object and tries to separate Hotaru and I, and nevertheless he gets his ways with girls in his playboy acts.

I got backstabbed by Natsume officially kissing Luna.

I got backstabbed by everyone.

I left Gakuen Alice for AAA.

I came back 6 months later and only forgave Hotaru.

The following summer I managed to forgive everyone, including Natsume.

And that is where we are.

"But despite the past incidents, now I think the problems will fade away," Hotaru shrugged.

I raised an eyebrow. How can she guess that?

"I mean, we will still face issues. It is just that we suffered from rough backgrounds to get to the place where we want to be. And now the life should be a lot smoother now, you know?" She asked.

I smiled and nodded. "Things can only get better," I smiled.

"And what surprises me is that with all of these hard impacts inflicting upon you, that you would lose your smile. I feared that, but was caught off guard when you still giggled and still laughed and still smiled that smile that has enough warmth to melt a thousand hearts," Hotaru continued.

I widened my eyes at this.

"Because, Mikan, always remember that your smile is the smile that can draw people to you instantly. You have become the change in me, and I still can't believe how much all of us had changed due to your bright smiles that can light up the sun. If you were gone, do you think I would just shrug and smile? I don't think so," Hotaru finished.

"Oh Hotaru, don't flatter me," I hugged her.

She pulled away from the hug. "I'm not kidding. You do realize how much your smiles are worth? Even money can't buy it. I just hope that you can keep smiling on forever."

"I hope so too," I whispered.

Then she was the one, who leaned in for a hug, and she whispered, "And then we can fulfill the bond, Mikan."

I let tears drip. Kaoru and Yuka weren't able to have a fulfilled bond like they wished for.

Natsume and I were just not the fated pair, much to disappointment.

And I am scared that if I make this bond with Hotaru, will it come true?

Hotaru practically mind read me like Koko. "It will come true, Mikan. We just have to have confidence in what we wish for," she firmly stated.

That is Hotaru for you. A girl who is cold as ice, money-grabber, loves crabs, invents in her free time, but has a soft side for me, and has persistence hard as a stone.

And not even diamonds can scratch her. No one can taint her.

I choked out, "Promise me, Hotaru." I pulled my gold chain which had Youichi's Alice Stone and Hotaru's Alice Stone.

I squeezed the amethyst colored Alice Stone.

Hotaru responded, "I promise. Do you?" She reached for her chain which had Ruka's Alice Stone and my Alice Stone.

She squeezes the bright deep mandarin colored Alice Stone.

"I promise," I breathed.

_Oh Hotaru, my dear sister Hotaru._

_We want to be together, something to hold on to be together, so we make a bond._

_We are close as sisters, and this same bond shall be passed down to the next generation._

_That our children shall meet and be together._

_Forever._

_Our children are written in the Old Book of Fate._

_The strings of life have been made by the three maidens of Fate._

_They are written to be together._

_No force shall be there to stop them in being in love._

_Nothing can harm them._

_No one can ever lay a finger of harm onto these angels of divinity._

_Because they are following fate._

_Oh, if only something now can lessen my pains of anxiety._

_Because living through it is like patiently watching snow melt,_

_For hours and days and years…_


	13. He's Back

**Mikan's POV**

It has been a week since my birthday party. I was happy because I felt accepted.

I decided to stroll in anywhere in this Academy when I heard rustles in the Sakura Trees.

"Natsume, I know you're there. Come on out," I flatly said, not lifting my eyes to see if I was right.

DOMP!

Something hit the floor.

"How do you know I am there?" he asked rubbing his head from falling head-first. He is so lucky he doesn't need the ambulance right then and there.

"Who else rummages around in the Sakura Trees as if they were spying," I asked.

"True," he shrugged and then jogged up to my side.

Then I froze.

I felt someone's vibrations infiltrating the Academy's grounds.

A non-alice who is very familiar, someone I had a bad experience with.

I need to find out.

"Mikan?" He shook my right shoulder to bring me to consciousness.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You froze and phased out. Something seems wrong," he asked, worry filling his crimson eyes.

"Someone I had a bad past with is breaking into the Academy, more like infiltrating it. I need to find out," I broke out into a run.

"Hey! Let me come with you!" Natsume called after me.

"Fine," I mumbled and grabbed his forearm and teleported us to where I think the intruder was.

The place where the intruder was at the Academy's front gate, the grand one.

Oh.

My.

God.

There was a boy with menacing black eyes and dirt colored hair climbing effortlessly and jumping to get down from the gate on our side of it.

"Mikan, long time no see," he sneered.

I paled in color completely and Natsume narrowed his eyes at the idiot.

I glared at the boy with death in my eyes, "What do you want, Takashi?"

"Came to claim my girlfriend," he smirked.

"Hotaru is not interested in you, you filthy lowlife," I growled.

"Oh yes she is. She is probably weeping because I am not interested in her. Now is her perfect chance," he gloated.

He sauntered over to me.

"Mikan!" Hotaru called.

"Mikan, I was looking over for you! What are you and Natsume doing here…?" Hotaru froze when she saw Takashi.

"What are you doing here, asshole?" she glared.

"Why the hard stares, babe?" he smirked again, and tried to forcefully grip Hotaru into a hug.

SLAP!

Hotaru slapped him hard against the cheek so that he couldn't get his filthy hands on her.

"Why you little…!" Takashi lunged towards her in intentions of hurting her.

I couldn't stand it, so the Baka Gun which I usually keep with me was on my right hand.

Hotaru said use it to keep idiots away from me and people I care about.

Hotaru is one of it, and Takashi is an idiot.

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

Takashi got sent so high, he hit the barrier and came crashing down. He hit the ground right before my feet.

I kicked him in the shin in hopes to speed up his senses and torture him even more.

"Get up, lowlife," I spat.

He slowly peeled himself off the ground and sat up enough to see my dark face. He shivered at my dark side.

He even whimpered when he saw Natsume nearing on him with a death glare in his eyes and a fireball emerging in his hand.

I yanked him up by his collar and fastened my hands around his neck hard. Time for my torture session.

"You must be a spoiled brat to think that you have Hotaru wrapped around your little finger, huh?" I sneered at him.

He whimpered even more.

"Don't even think that I am going to give her back to you. After you rejected her when we were 8, do you know what kind of physical and mental problems Hotaru had suffered?" my voice trembled with rage.

**Flashback**

_We were at the age of eight. Hotaru was identical of personality as I was, happy, cheery and go-lucky._

_Back then she wasn't the Ice Queen._

_One day, she came to my house in the morning with a request._

"_H-hey, Mikan? Can I ask you a favor?" Hotaru blushed and looked at the floor._

"_Who is it, Hotaru? Who's the unlucky guy?" I mused. She always gets startled by this._

"_Mikan! That's not funny! I really like this guy and I have no guts to tell him how I feel!" Hotaru cried._

_I backed up. This was serious. She never cried when I joked that._

"_Just kidding, Hotaru. If you want, I can come with you so you can tell this guy your feelings, okay? Now tell me, who is this lucky guy?" I asked with a gentle smile on my face._

_Hotaru stopped weeping and smiled brightly at me, "His name is Takashi. I liked him since we were five. I like him, but if I went on my own, he might think I like him only for his looks."_

_My face drained of color. Takashi was like Narcissus from Greek Mythology. He was a scorner of love, hater of maidens, and showed no interest in others._

_Whenever I saw that awful boy he was always holding a hand-held mirror and giving commentaries on his perfect features. The grossest thing in the world, he was in love with himself._

_I hated that guy the Day 1 I laid eyes on him._

"_Are you serious about this, Hotaru? He is a scorner of love. He might hurt you," I said with worry._

"_It never hurts to try," Hotaru looked up hopefully._

_She is so innocent, what will happen to her when Takashi rejects her?_

"_All right," I faked a smile so she can be happy. This won't be pretty though._

"_Yay!" she danced and then yanked my hand to the streets to where that awful boy was again giving himself praises on his "perfect" face._

_We approached him, and witnessed a pack of innocent girls run away from him wailing at their broken hearts. I am getting worried._

_Hotaru squeezed my hand as we approached him._

"_U-um, T-takashi?" Hotaru stuttered._

"_What do you want, ugly?" he glowered at her for interrupting his idiotic commentary session._

_Hotaru trembled and I resisted the urge to slap him._

"_I-I like y-you very much. W-will you g-go out w-with me?" Hotaru stumbled._

"_Who would want to go out with a skimpy girl like you? You look so stupid with a boyish cut, and those ugly plum-colored eyes look like vegetables rotting in the garbage bin. Get outta my way. I don't have time for someone as ugly as you!" he hollered loud enough the whole world to hear._

_How rude! She is thin, but not skinny. Her raven colored boyish haircut adds to her cuteness, and her eyes are not the color of rotting vegetable flesh! They are the color of bright amethysts! They are so pretty and rare!_

_Hotaru let tears drip and then it became a steady flow of tears as she ran away crying._

"_Tch, stupid oaf," he muttered and went back to his commentaries._

_I stepped up, snatched the mirror out of his hand and banged it against a brick wall so that the mirror shattered._

"_HEY!" he lunged for the broken mirror pieces._

"_Look at that, the mirror secretly thought you were so ugly that all the pressure to keep it in busted. It broke because you are the ugliest person in the world," I scoffed at him._

"_HOW DARE YOU…!" He tried to lay hands on me._

_SLAP! I slapped his left cheek._

_SLAP! I slapped his right cheek._

_WHAP! I mercilessly hit his head._

_He was crumpled on the ground whimpering of all the pain._

"_I vow to get revenge on you, Takashi Onhorio, for breaking my best friend, Hotaru Imai's heart," I darkly spat in his face, letting little drops of spit cover his pain._

_With that, I spun on my heels and broke out into a run, searching for Hotaru._

**End of Flashback**

He shook out of fear.

"She cried. CRIED. She came to my house frequently for moral support for two years until we came here. Hotaru was being hunted down by this Academy for being an Alice. I came here to support her so she doesn't have to come alone, because I indeed was an Alice, I was just being hid from the Academy. I came with her and for two years after we came here, she had an ice mask and inconsolable breakdown in my arms. Another two years she closed herself up, almost locking her away from everyone else. That would have been permanent had I not introduced her to someone else. She is now a lot happier and I don't want you getting in her way of life," I seethed between my teeth.

I tightened my fingers a few more degrees around his neck.

He let out several gasps, but I didn't care.

I raised him until his feet were dangling off the floor and mercilessly dropped him.

At which, he yelled out, "This is not the end of it, moron!"

He ran off, but Natsume was so infuriated by him calling me a moron so he lit a fireball and threw that on the back of Takashi's shirt, making a hole and burning the back.

He yelped out in pain, but still scampered off.

I then let my dark face fall and spun on my heels to see Hotaru shaking. I pulled her into a hug.

"Don't worry, Hotaru. I won't let him ruin the relationship you have with Ruka. I won't let him hurt you again," I hugged her tight.

She wailed and wrapped two arms around my waist tightly.

"Wait. What is going on? How do you two know him so well?" Natsume's face was masked by confusion.

I broke the hug and created a Memory Manipulation Alice Stone with the memory of the rejection contained within the stone.

I inserted it into Natsume, and he closed his eyes to view the memory.

Several minutes later he opened his eyes and fumed so angrily that he hurled a fire ball at the stone ground, scaring the life out of an innocent bunny on a park bench.

"Let's go murder him," he spat out.

"Wait, not now. Hotaru might break apart, so when we see him, I will let you do anything you want with the jerk, all right?" I asked.

He nodded.

We all went into the classroom with Ruka prancing around in worry. When he saw the three of us, he almost pounced on me with infinite questions.

I was not in the mood for this, so I casted a barrier around the three of us and Ruka hit it, and went sailing until he hit the other wall.

"Mikan! Come on, what happened?" Ruka whined.

Hotaru sniffed and just kept her arms around me in a death grip with her face buried into my shoulder. It hurt, but I slung an arm around her shoulder to comfort her.

"Bunny Boy, I am going to tell you once and no more questions," I glared.

He gulped and nodded.

"Before Hotaru and I came here, two years before us coming to Gakuen Alice, we lived in a remote village. There was this one boy Takashi who Hotaru liked. She confessed to him at the age of 8, and got painfully rejected. Until she met you she had symptoms of depression. Now when everything seems to be clearing up, he breaks into the Academy, infiltrating it, just to force Hotaru to be his girlfriend. We threatened him into leaving, but he just runs further into the Academy. We don't know where he is, but we do know that if we leave Hotaru unattended, he will yank her right out of this place," I finished.

Ruka turned into statue, so then I turned to the twins.

"Oh my god, you should report this!" Nonoko squealed.

"We'll come with you!" Anna chipped in.

"Me too!" Sumire chirped.

"Thanks!" I smiled.

Then all of us went into the hallway.

"Who should we tell?" Sumire nudged me.

"I dunno…" I trailed off.

"The MSP?" Nonoko asked.

"Nah, she won't come out of the Hana Hime Den. How about the HSP?" Anna asked.

Then slowly, because Hotaru refused to let go of me, we all made way to HSP (Uncle)'s office.

He was in there and looked up, first with a smile on his face to see me, but then a shocked expression when he saw Hotaru sobbing remotely.

"Mikan, what happened?" Uncle asked.

"A non-alice that the both of us were on bad terms with before we came here, infiltrated the Academy," I explained.

I gave a picture of Takashi Onhorio to Uncle, "This is the most recent picture. His name is Takashi Onhorio, and he is the same age as us. I caught him successfully climbing over the main gates of Gakuen Alice despite the number of stings he got from the barrier. He then further tried to molest Hotaru, and Natsume and I made him pay for that, but instead of climbing again over the main gate, he ran off deeper into the Academy. We do not know where he is, but this is dangerous, a Non-Alice snuck into the Academy."

Uncle took a look at the picture, and said to me, "Wait right here, Mikan, I am calling the Fuukitai to track that boy down."

He went for the phone and called the Fuukitai to come here as soon as possible.

They came in, barging in at large numbers.

Uncle made several copies of the photo and handed one to each member of the Fuukitai.

"I want you to find this boy. He is somewhere in this Academy. By the look of it, Mikan is right – he is a Non-Alice, and when you catch him, we will erase his memories of being in this Academy and throw him out," concluded Uncle.

The Fuukitai nodded and then went out running and yelling, "Come on! We have someone to track down!"

When they were finally gone, Uncle sighed a sigh of relief, and went back to sitting down on his chair, but looked up at me.

"When they find him, I will use the PA system to call you and Hotaru to see and verify if that is the boy that infiltrated Gakuen Alice."

We all nodded, and silently went to the classroom.

When we reached there, Ruka knew better than to pounce onto us, but still gave a questioning look at all of us.

"We notified the HSP," Sumire started off.

"Mikan gave him the picture of the jerk, and gave a brief description of him to the HSP," Nonoko continued.

"And then the HSP took the picture made copies of it, called the Fuukitai and told them the same description, and handed the picture to each member. They just left to track the guy down," continued Anna.

"And if he finds Takashi, then he will notify us using the PA system," I finished.

"Well, how long do you think it will take to find him? He is making Hotaru so worried, I mean look at her!" Ruka pointed a finger at Hotaru.

I gave him the take-your-finger-down-or-else-I-will-do-it-for-you glare, and he did as I asked indirectly, and shrunk a little under the intensity of it.

"Yes, Ruka, I saw Hotaru. She is in a terrible condition and I will try my best to make her feel better. With the huge SWAT team Uncle set on the trail, it won't be long before that idiot gets caught, all right?" I snapped, with frustration clipping at my voice.

He shrunk into a tiny ball and would refuse to uncurl until the HSP announced they found the intruder.

I sighed, and sat on a desk, Hotaru still attached to me. I hugged her and she stopped shaking, and fell asleep.

But one thing is straight, she didn't lessen her death grip on me.

I ran my fingers through her smooth raven black hair. It was the same boyish cut four years ago.

But it was pretty. It brought out her cuteness with it.

I can't believe Takashi said it was ugly. Damn that idiot.

Hours went like that, and no one felt hungry or tired, just waiting.

Eventually nightfall fell and we had to go to our rooms.

This tension went on for another two days, and on the third day, when Hotaru was still clinging to me in the same intensity of a grip.

Ruka curled up into a ball for the third time.

Natsume tensed up and refused to utter a word to anyone but me, Hotaru or Ruka.

Then finally the announcement came.

_This is Kazumi Yukihira, your High School Principal speaking. I want the girls by the names of Mikan Yukihira and Hotaru Imai to come down to my office. I repeat, I want the girls by the names of Mikan Yukihira and Hotaru Imai to come down to my office. Thank you very much._

Then the static filled the room, and I looked down to Hotaru whose violet eyes were trembling. The poor girl hadn't eaten properly the past two days.

She meekly nodded, and we went to Uncle's office.

"Ow! Let me go! My girlfriend's in this Academy and I want her back! There she is," He jabbed a rough finger at Hotaru.

"She isn't your girlfriend, asshole. Uncle, this is him. Erase his memories and throw him out for GOOD," I said.

Uncle nodded and positioned a memory eraser right outside the gates.

We went and watched as Takashi was, against his wills, forced out the gates.

Then a man in complete black attire put a hand over Takashi's eyes and erased his memories, also knocking him out.

Then a black limo came and tossed the boy in there and sped off for the village that he lived in.

When the limo was out of sight, Hotaru sighed a sigh of relief, and lessened her grip on me but still hugged me.

"That was scary," she whispered, sounding like her 8-year-old self.

"Course it was. But he is gone. If he comes back, I will whip him to another galaxy. He will NOT lay a finger on you, my pretty sister. And your haircut and eye color is so cute," I reminded her.

She brightened up at the compliments.

"Come on, everyone is worried about us," I said.

She nodded, but happy this time.

Ruka was happy and officially uncurled himself from his teeny tiny ball.

When nightfall came and we were tucked in bed, I saw Hotaru smile in her sleep.

I was about to withdraw my arms from my hug hold around her but she kept my arms in place.

"Don't let go, Mikan," she murmured in her sleep.

I smiled for her.

"I will never let go," I breathed.

And with that, we let the cloak of sleep veil us.


	14. Hotaru's Recovery

**Mikan's POV**

The very next day after Takashi got arrested and got thrown out of Gakuen Alice, Youichi was insistent on talking to me face-to-face or else he would beat the headmaster in AAA for a boarding pass to Japan and see me personally.

So, to save the poor headmaster and not disturb my halfway done vacation, I let him talk to me face-to-face through the webcam.

We were in Hotaru's room, and Hotaru was clinging to me like a vice, and she had her arms around me in a death grip still.

On a bare wall in Hotaru's room we positioned the webcam to project the image.

Youichi's face came on and he first smiled at me, but then looked alarmed when he saw Hotaru attaching herself to me.

"What happened there?" he asked, especially when I was trying to force a smile on underneath all of this pressure from the hug.

"Uh, it's a long story," I meekly got out.

"Spit it out," he warned. Again?

Then I complied, starting from when Hotaru and I were 8 and she told her confession to Takashi but got rejected. I told how her withdrawal symptoms were and when we came to Gakuen Alice, she spent another four years mourning until she met Ruka and after a tiring six years, she finally had the guts to move on.

I then went onto proceeding how Takashi managed to infiltrate the Gakuen Alice almost scaring the life out of Hotaru. I told him about the struggles we made to get that idiot out, thus leaving her in a shocked state. And the only thing that can calm her down is to hug me tightly.

"So that is the story," I puffed out the last words, patting Hotaru awkwardly.

"Oh. I'm sorry," he kind of looked embarrassed.

"Nah, it's okay. It's just that she is having a lot of withdrawal symptoms from that shock that lasted three days. It took three days to find that idiot. It nearly scared the light out of the poor girl," I said, smoothing out Hotaru's hair. She sniffed but didn't budge.

"I hope she gets better soon. Sorry I pressed into that issue, Hotaru," Youichi sounded sincere.

Hotaru bobbed her head up and down.

Youichi gave a confused look at me.

"She forgives you," I translated.

"Oh, okay. Well I have nothing really else to talk about. I just miss you," Youichi said.

"But I have been gone for only two weeks!" I laughed and protested.

"But without you, there is nothing to do," he made a face.

I giggled. So true.

"So where are Hannah and Mike?" I asked.

"God knows where. Hannah said she is having fun, but it is not the same without you," Youichi said romantically.

Is this one of his Romeo lines he made just for me?

"FYI, I am not making up lines to make you feel better, they really are true," Youichi read my mind.

"Did I give you a mind reading Alice Stone?" I asked.

"No, I can just read your doubtful face," he laughed.

I gave him a long hard stare, and he just laughed under it.

"Anyway, come back soon," he teased me.

"I hope so," I forced a smile on. It was hard when Hotaru was hugging the life out of me.

But she had that recent scare of her life, so I would naturally allow her to hug me. Wow, I am sounding like Hotaru's icy side.

We talked and talked for a few more minutes when Youichi finally gave in that I should be given the right to enjoy my two weeks here, and logged off.

I logged off, too, and spent the next hour trying to coax Hotaru into relaxing.

The next two hours, it took a lot of effort for her to unwrap her arms from my waist, but she then took my left hand and hugged it tightly when I promised her she could hug me later.

Darn it, left hand was my writing hand. Oh, well.

I then helped Hotaru inch outside her dorm and locked it behind us.

We then went to the park and saw everyone waiting for us, mostly with Natsume and Ruka giving concerned eyes to me.

"What?" I am getting annoyed by this constant attention.

"Imai…looks…paler…" Natsume pointed out as if I was too stupid to realize that.

Hotaru broke out into sobs and then released her tightening grip hold on my arm, and clutched my waist in the same death grip.

I gave Natsume a huge glare. "Thanks a lot, Natsume. We went from block 2 to block 1."

"What are you talking about?" Ruka asked me.

"I had to spend one hour in coaxing Hotaru to relaxing her muscles and breathe steadily, deep breath in and deep breath out. Then the next TWO hours were devoted to her not gripping me around my waist but around my arm instead with a promise that she can hug me later. The poor girl was making progress in coming out of her shell and Natsume just HAD to make such a comment," I glared, hugging Hotaru's head and smoothing her hair down which calms her down efficiently.

"But she looks so pale and skinny! Has she eaten at all?!" Natsume pointed his forefinger at Hotaru.

She whimpered loudly and gripped me tighter.

I glared at him to lower his finger or else I would do it for him. Like Ruka, he almost shrunk into a ball.

"You just put me at block ZERO. Make one more negative comment to her, I will fling you to the barrier with the Baka Gun 9.0 with unlimited STEEL bullets she gave me," I said, showing the Baka Gun adorned on my right hand pointed at Natsume.

He profusely sweat-dropped (anime-style) but he quickly apologized for commenting on Hotaru's appearance by saying, "Yes, ma'am."

I was still pissed off at having lost all my good progress in trying to relax Hotaru.

Three hours of therapy session went down the drain.

"That goes for all of you," I glared and Ruka, and gave a warning look to everyone else.

Ruka whimpered, and hid behind Natsume but not before promising me he won't do a thing that makes me angry. Everyone just nodded.

"Good. Now Hotaru, where would you like to go today?" I smiled at Hotaru.

"H-Hana H-H-Hime D-Den," she sniffed.

"All right. Let's get you cleaned up and dressed in your Hana Hime attire, all right?" I smiled brightly to lift Hotaru's spirits.

She gave a meek nod, and we teleported to Hotaru's dorm.

Opening the dorm, I got her to peel off me so I could take a bath first.

I put on simple attire for the time being.

I prepared the bath but this time put some rose scented oil to calm Hotaru down.

She went into the bathroom and sank into the bath I prepared.

When she was done, she changed into her Hana Hime attire of: clematis patterned robe, clematis patterned fan in her right hand, clematis patterned dagger up her left sleeve, and the clematis shaped clip in her short raven black hair.

That flower, the Clematis, was her Hana Hime flower nickname.

Wakamurasaki no Kimi, it means – the Clematis Flower Princess.

I changed into my Hana Hime attire – Jasmine robe, Jasmine fan in right hand, Jasmine dagger up left sleeve, and Jasmine clip in my small bob cut.

Hii sama did not give me crimson rose for a reason. Mikan no Kimi means crimson rose so she wanted me to have the Hana Hime flower nickname same as Kaoru Igarashi (seeing how restless and determined that I am, something she said both of us had in common) but wanted me to have the flower similar that of my mother's: Jasmine (to her seemed a lot similar to a White Lily) because she said I somewhat resembled my mother in traits and habits and grace, but identical in her looks and charms and obliviousness to love.

She was weeping so hard, so I allowed her to stick herself to my left arm, and later she can hug me around the waist later.

We went to the Hana Hime Den, where it looked like Hii-sama was having another Flower Festival.

"Welcome, my right hand, Mikan no Kimi! Wakamurasaki no Kimi, what happened?" Hii-sama asked concerned.

Hotaru just sniffed, as she was too shocked to speak.

I took out my Jasmine Flower printed fan and politely hid my jaw behind it. I sat at Hii-sama's right side, and Hotaru, crumpled to the ground slowly on my left side as I smiled politely.

"Gomen, Hii-sama, for this shock. This dear flower princess had the shock of her life when an intruder – a Non-Alice – broke into the Academy – and tried to force her to leave the academy with him. She is still left in shock of all of those events even though he was thrown out of the academy yesterday," I smiled, patting Hotaru on the back for she was trembling.

"Such terrible luck! Dear, would you like some cake?" Hii-sama nudged a piece of strawberry cake in Hotaru's direction.

Hotaru sniffed, and unwrapped her arms from my left hand and nodded politely behind her fan. She took the piece of cake and a fork, and behind her fan, took tiny bites of it.

"Mikan no Kimi, some cake as well? Which kind?" She gestured toward the cakes.

There was vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, double-chocolate, and French vanilla.

"I would like a piece of French Vanilla," I said behind my fan.

Hii-sama nodded, and had the cake wheeled over to me so I could cut the cake piece as big that I wanted to.

I took the slicer and cut a medium piece of French Vanilla cake.

I put that onto my plate and behind my fan, I ate tiny bites of the cake, as it was considered ladylike to eat slowly.

We then had sundaes after that, some chocolate treats, and even exchanged jokes.

Hotaru smiled and let out a few tiny laughs at all of the silly stories the Flower Princesses, and a few of them caught the small smile and laughs, and celebrated over it.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaah…Wakamurasaki no Kimi laughed at my joke!" One girl with short blonde hair declared.

"No she didn't," scoffed a long red-haired.

"Yeah. She laughed at MY joke, dummy!" A girl with shoulder length black hair smirked.

"Is this WAR?!" The blondie threatened.

"Hm, yes. Yes it is," The black haired smirked.

"Oh, it's ON!" The brown headed and blondie screamed simultaneously. The red-haired pumped a fist in the air.

"Right back at you SISTER!" The black haired screamed.

They started the brawl, and Hotaru let out several cute giggles and she hugged my hand tightly as she smiled.

I smiled. Maybe this is a good idea to let her lighten up.

"Ladies, ladies! Remember your manners!" Hii-sama scolded them, but she was smiling when she saw Hotaru lighten up.

We had tea after that, and throughout tea time, Hotaru smiled at the scene of Flower Princesses sending death glares because they were sure THEY were the one who made Hotaru smile and laugh.

"Mikan, aren't they funny?" Hotaru giggled into my ear.

I was surprised as this is one of her rare times of speaking since the incident.

I kept my composure and smiled to her, "No, they're not funny, they are hilarious."

She giggled and laughed, "Yeah, they are."

I'm glad she decided to lighten up. I mean, I don't attend Gakuen Alice, I now attend Alice Academy in America (New York, to be exact).

So she would have to regain her composure before I leave.

We left the Hana Hime Den after that, and we giggled and laughed at how much the other members were so funny.

We walked, not teleported to Hotaru's room and when we came there we merely changed clothes and neatly tucked out Hana Hime attire away.

Then we went to the Central Town and talked.

Hotaru giggled and laughed and didn't even grip my arm.

Since she was making progress in coming out of her shocked state, I decided to treat her.

I pulled her to the Howalon Shop, and bought her a large box. We walked and shared the box of Fluff Puffs, commenting how weirdly shaped the clouds were.

We finished the treats, and were about to go to the dorms, when Hotaru stopped me.

"Mikan," she started.

"Yeah?" I asked. I totally knew where this is going.

"Thank you," she smiled.

"Really? For what?" I pressed her. I thought this would get on her nerves, when she has to explain the reason for every thank you.

But to my upmost shock, she just smiled. She really wasn't annoyed. Do I need to take her to a neurologist to scan her brain?

"Thank you, for when Takashi came and broke into the Academy, you supported me in saying that you would make sure that Takashi wouldn't come in between of Ruka and I. And for the next few days I must have hugged you so much but you didn't mind because you knew I was scared. Thank you for understanding I was insecure," Hotaru brightly smiled.

"This is what I am SUPPOSED to do, silly. We are sisters and we make sure that neither of us is hurt nor harmed," I snorted and then hugged her.

Hotaru gave in and hugged. We probably hugged so many times but we never get tired of it. We love each other so much as sisters that something like this is not a boring thing to do.

WUMP!

We broke it when we thought we heard something hit the floor.

Did I drop the cell phone that Hotaru gave me? Darn it.

But I found that it was not the cell phone that I dropped (because it was still in my jeans) but to find Ruka in total shock at us hugging and at Hotaru's rapid recovery.

Yep, you guessed it. His JAW hit the floor so hard.

"Tch, you make so much noise, Bunny Boy," Hotaru covered her ears in mock frustration.

"Buh, but, but, but, I…who…what…when…where… why…how…Mikan!" he jabbed a forefinger at me.

"What? Why me?" I whined.

He was frozen like a statue, so I took a deep breath and answered his 6 questions.

"Number one, who: Hotaru Imai. Number two, what: she smiled, laughed and stopped clinging to me, not that I mind her doing that, she gets to do it whenever she wants to. Number three, when: today. Number four, where: Hana Hime Den and Central Town. Number five, why: don't you dare say you never want her to smile or else I'll fling you to Pluto; she has a right to smile and enjoy herself. And Number six, how: the flower princesses' jokes and arguments made Hotaru smile and laugh; she later on laughed more as we ate Howalon. You happy? Now take down your finger," I glared.

Ruka trembled as he quickly hid his finger behind his back.

_Click!_

Hotaru had her camera in hand and captured Ruka's most embarrassing moment.

"Hotaru!" Ruka whined.

"What?" Hotaru emotionlessly said, winked at me.

"Don't do that~~~~~!" Ruka flailed his arms in hope of getting the camera. But when he was close, Hotaru tossed it to me and I teleported the camera to her room on the bed.

"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ruka was now making a scene.

"Ruka, quit crying. You sound like a girl," Natsume popped out from behind Ruka.

"But…Natsume….Hotaru took my picture, AGAIN!" Ruka hugged Natsume in a death grip

Hotaru and I smirked. Sometimes people called us the "Evil Sisters" and that is what people were whispering around us. Not that we cared.

"Ugh, Ruka! You're…! Suffocating me!" Natusme tried to pry Ruka off of him, but the poor lad couldn't.

"WAHHHHHHHHH!" Ruka didn't stop his fountain of tears.

Natsume looked at Hotaru with an annoyed expression. "Imai, really? Now Ruka isn't going to let go of me for a WEEK," he retorted.

"Have fun with him," Hotaru gave an evil smile.

Natsume shivered.

"And, oi! Animal lover! It's also your fault that you did such an embarrassing pose for her to take pictures of," Natsume groaned.

Ruka just gave loud sniffs and whined, "You're supposed to make me feel better, not put blame on me! Meanie!"

"Oh, shape up. This isn't any different from the times the Ice Queen took embarrassing photos of you. She even made me buy them, every time she blackmailed you, gosh," Natsume rubbed his head.

Natsume braced for another outburst, and it came. Ruka completely fell apart and Natsume let out a sigh of frustration as he was the one who had to drag Ruka away from the crowd that seemed to be building up.

Only Hotaru and I were left.

Hotaru sent glares to the rest of the crowd saying, "What are you looking at? Scram."

"Yeah, the movie is over," I sarcastically added.

The crowd immediately dispersed underneath the death glares that Hotaru and I were giving to the crowd.

Then Hotaru and I just resumed our walk back to the Middle School section like nothing had happened.

Like Ruka's sudden outburst had never taken place.

But when we walked into the classroom, everyone knew of Ruka's fountain of tears that took place smack in the middle of the shopping center.

The twins burst out into laughter and tears and asked me, "Man, what did you do to make Ruka such a crybaby?"

"Ruka made an embarrassing pose and I took a picture of it," Hotaru answered instead.

"Oh, Imai, you never fail to work wonders," Yuu laughed so hard.

"You should've seen it. Your loss," I said.

"Did you record it?" Sumire asked, wiping tears of laughing too much.

"Yeah, we wanna see it," Mochu said.

Hotaru smirked and held up her spy bug which recorded the whole outburst.

She took out her laptop, and uploaded the vid on there. She then burned the video onto a cd, and made 5 copies (one for each pair).

She handed one to each pair of lovebirds. Finally she gave one to me and kept one herself.

But as the pairs were gonna leave, she had a robot close the doors.

"It is not free. Hand me 5000 rabbits and then the CD's yours," Hotaru emotionlessly said.

They groaned, but together managed to pay for their CD. Then Hotaru, counting up her endless rabbits, let them leave.

"Hey, Hotaru?" I asked.

"Hmm?" she asked.

"Here," I handed her a pouch of 5000 rabbits.

"No, for you it is free. But when the others ask, tell them you paid yours to me. Keep it, and have the rabbits converted back to yen when you leave allright? This is a secret between you and me," Hotaru smiled.

"So, is there anything else except the funny outburst on here?" I asked.

"Yep. Every single blackmailed picture I took of him, starting in Elementary School. You see they couldn't afford it, so before the video, there is a long slideshow of Ruka's embarrassing photos that I took. That is why I made them pay that much for the CD," Hotaru smiled.

I smiled and slipped the CD into my bag when we returned to Hotaru's room.

"And Mikan?" Hotaru asked.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"You remember my promise, right?" Hotaru asked.

"That you will be the one to come in the summer?" I nodded.

She nodded, "Wait for me. Next year, during the finals before Summer Break, I will become the Honor Student and come to America to see you."

I hugged her, and laughed, "And I will wait for you."

This was our little promise that had to be kept.

At all costs.


	15. A Tearful Reunion

**Two Weeks Later**

**America [Mikan's POV]**

I stepped out of the black limo to our condominium. I didn't tell those three that I was coming right now, so they were probably hours behind the plan.

I wanted it to be this way, because I meant for this to be a plan.

I dragged my stuff: two luggage bags overstuffed with souvenirs. My birthday gifts are in my room in the condominium. And my steel case with the Baka Gun 9.0.

I went to the front of the condominium with my bags beside me and knocked.

I heard a few disappointed groans and someone came to the door.

I didn't know who this person was when before the person opened the door, the person mumbled in perfect Japanese, "I bet it is the MSP to dump another mission on us."

Youichi.

I chuckled and when the door inched open, he popped his head out, and I made a face at him.

"Should I go back to Japan? All right, you asked for it," I said.

I spun around on my heels and made way for the limo again when two pale arms made their way around my waist and pulled me back right before I could sit in the limo and tell the driver that I wanted to go back to the airport.

"Dummy, I thought it was the MSP. I am not going to let you go back to the airport for now," he said, burying his head into my neck.

"That's Romeo for you," I rolled my eyes.

"Well you don't know how much agonizing the past month was," he retorted back.

"Oh really?" I mused.

"Yeah, really," he scoffed.

"Well I promised Hotaru to become the Honor Student as many times as I can, so this is not the end of it," I promised him that.

"And what are you going to do when you get that Award?" he asked.

"Choose a one-month vacation to Japan," I folded my arms across my chest despite the fact he was hugging me from behind.

He whirled me around to check I was serious. He searched my eyes like how one browses the computer's content and found that I was 100% serious.

When he found that to be positive he gripped me hard in the shoulders.

"Youichi! That hurts! Ow!" I faltered underneath the pain.

"Why?" his voice slithered.

_Oh no. Is he going to betray me now? Is this whole cycle starting over again?_

I winced and answered him, "B-because I-I want t-to s-see H-Hotaru as many t-times as I-I c-can."

I am getting really scared. This is a side of him I never saw.

Youichi's eyes widened at my reason and then he was taken aback when I was about to cry.

I was shaking because I thought he would replay the same incident that happened in Japan, thus causing me to transfer here.

But then he pulled me into a tight hug, catching me off guard. "I am so sorry, Mikan. I didn't mean that. I just got overprotective."

I sobbed, but hugged him back. I was shocked by this as well.

"It's okay," I breathed.

He then broke the hug and took a hand to wipe my tears. I truly was still in complete shock from this outburst.

He ruffled my short hair back into place and then went over to the bags to pull them in.

He gave a tug and used so much effort to carry one bag. I laughed at this.

"Hey, are you trying to make fun of me?" I giggled.

"No…this really is heavy!" he pouted like a little child.

"Oh Youichi…" I trailed off.

I went over to the bags and effortlessly picked up the heavier one and my Baka Gun case. The door was open, so I let myself in and went to my room and put the stuff there.

And I saw the presents there.

Then Youichi came behind me, yelling and groaning from the heavy bag.

When he finally came in, his eyes widened.

"Mikan, where in the world did THESE come from?" he asked.

"At Japan, I had a birthday party. These are the presents from there. My friends over there gave it to me," I smiled.

He smiled when he heard that my friends threw a party for me.

I cheered and went over to the box containing the Flying Dove Scooter that Hotaru gave me.

"And I can't wait to use THIS!" I squealed, opening it up to show the scooter.

"Does it fly?" he asked, bored.

"Yep. The only reason I can't wait to use it. Hotaru gave it to me," I grinned.

"Ah," he chuckled. He knew how much Hotaru and I love each other. Some rumors he heard that it is impossible to hack the two of us apart.

"So, did your birthday just pass?" he asked.

"Yeah," I shrugged.

"When was it?" he prodded.

"May 13th," I gave another shrug like it didn't matter. It did, it's just that I already had a birthday party.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. So he didn't want me telling Hannah or Mike my real birthday?

Touché.

"I never really knew my real birthday. In elementary school, I learned that my birthday was somewhere in May because of Time Travel. Just this May 13th uncle called from Gakuen Alice saying happy birthday. I asked him why that day and he told me that through further research I was born on May 13th," I crossed my arms over my chest in protest.

"Allright…" he trailed off. This is so weird.

"So where's Hannah and Mike," I asked, hopes this lifts the heavy mood off.

"I don't know, somewhere in this Academy," he lifted his arms in protest.

"**Mikannnnnn~~~" **Hannah came running in the halls and tackled me.

I am so lucky that I am a natural at gaining my balance or else I would've tripped.

"**Hey Hannah," **I dramatically gasped over the hugs.

Both of them were hugging me in a death grip and Youichi was trying to get them off of me out of fear that I might choke underneath this kind of hug.

"**You guys!" **he whined.

I raised an eyebrow at him and he flinched.

"**And you said they were somewhere in the Academy," **I asked him, or more like stated.

"**Somewhere in the Academy? Youichi! We were in the kitchen waiting for Mikan to come so we could give her a happy birthday cake!" **Hannah smacked Youichi on the top of his head with her Idiot Mallot 9.0.

"**Man, we were waiting and waiting and waiting for Mikan to come, and you are like we are somewhere between the Academy grounds?" **Mike shook his head.

Youichi shook his head in disappointment.

"**I wanted to see her first," **he explained.

"**But you didn't have to keep them waiting," **I chuckled at him. He had a tint of red on his cheeks.

But like Ruka, he didn't shrink into a ball.

"**Anyways, Youichi, you saw Mikan, so she's mine for the moment!" **Hannah against Youcihi's wills, yanked me into the kitchen.

And in the kitchen was a single layered blue frosted vanilla cake.

Cake again? Great. As if that double layered that Hotaru got me in Japan wasn't enough.

Hannah giggled in delight, **"I made this myself!"**

I smiled at her as she put the candle shaped like the number 13 on the cake.

She lit it and they sang the birthday song for me. Yes it was a little old school but who cares?

I blew the candles out and cut a piece for myself to taste.

I then gave pieces to Hannah and Mike and they finished the pieces of cakes SLOWLY before letting Youichi in.

Did I tell you, that after they yanked me into the kitchen they locked the door?

Poor Youichi spent the whole time pounding the door while the birthday song was sung and I made a wish in my mind and blew the candles and ate cake with Hannah and Mike.

By the time I opened the door, he was angry.

I cut him a piece of cake and put that onto a plate.

I put a candle on it, lit it and blew it out wishing my same wish again.

"**Thanks?" **I gave a nervous smile.

He was glaring but not at me. He was glaring at the smirking pair behind of me who were proud of themselves of celebrating my quick birthday without him.

He smiled at me and took the cake and ate it, and I sweatdropped.

"Youichi, you should stop glaring, the atmosphere is heavy," I whispered to him, choking underneath the heavy atmosphere.

The other two were sweating mini-puddles underneath the intensity of it.

He relented and lightened the atmosphere only because I asked him to.

Mike was shaking like a little kid and hid himself behind Hannah, who was statue still.

"**Are you done glaring at us?" **Mike whimpered.

"**This is your fault for telling Mikan that we were somewhere in the Academy," **Hannah rolled her eyes.

Youichi twitched but then rolled his eyes at Hannah to tell that he didn't care.

Hannah caught the moment when Youichi twitched to her advantage.

"**And now we are even, I will borrow Mikan for one week for dress shopping for the school dance. Your punishment is that you can't interrupt our one week together or else I will extend the time," **Hannah smirked.

Youichi whined and opened his mouth in protest but Hannah would have none of it.

"**What's that? Shall I extend the time?" **Hannah cupped her right hand around her right ear and leaned in closer to Youichi.

Youichi hung his head in order to control himself. I sighed.

Another dress? Really, how many dresses is it essential for me to have?

"**Hannah, I don't need a new one. I will wear the violet dress to the dance," **I sighed.

She leaned back and opened her mouth in protest but then visualized it and then happily agreed.

"**You're right. It DOES look sophisticated," **Hannah smiled.

"**What about you? Are you going to get a new one?" **I asked.

She shook her head and replied, **"Nah. Going to wear my midnight blue dress again. I kind of like the color and style."**

I smiled at her, knowing she is a bit like me. I am at least glad – she doesn't shop like a girly girl whose number one clothing rule is buy it, wear it once, and throw it in a corner, and get something new.

Hannah broke the beautiful peace by rubbing it in Youichi's face, **"But I still get to have a week with Mikan."**

Youichi scowled at her but then relented. He knew he couldn't spend time with me at day or night.

"**That goes for you too, Mike, one week where only us two spend it together," **Hannah pointed a finger at the poor guy.

He wailed but didn't protest.

He was about to let out a fountain of tears when Hannah took out her Idiot Mallet that she hits Youichi all the time with, pointed towards Mike.

Mike immediately died down. The sobs, cries, whimpers, silent protests, and hiccups vanished in a fraction of a second, and he successfully avoided the Idiot Mallet.

"**Poor guy," **I muttered when the two of us successfully reached outside and inside towards the mall.

"**Ah, he'll get over it. Anyways, Youichi said you are on good terms with your friends in Japan," **Hannah chirped.

"**It really wasn't their fault. They were forced to that horrible deed back then (chapter 1)," **I explained.

"**So Hyuuga forced them to?" **Her mood darkened a bit.

"**Yeah," **I shrugged.

Her mood turned from dark to murderous.

"**But he learned to let me go," **I quickly told her.

"**How is that a big deal?" **she snorted, but at least the heavy atmosphere was gone.

"**Hannah, it's a long story. A story that happened before Natsume and I were born," **I faltered.

"**What?" **she whispered quietly.

"**Our mothers had made a bond that if they can't meet together, then at least Natsume and I would meet each other for them. We would meet, fall in love, and spend forever together," **I told her the bond.

It was supposed to be a secret.

Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened to speak in realization. But I answered for her.

"**We were supposed to be together forever. I don't regret that I am fated to be with Youichi now, I am happy on the contrary. But Natsume feels horrible for breaking a promise that was made before our birth. Forgive him, Hannah, he is suffering enough pain of being ignored," **I pleaded her.

She put one and two together before catching the drift, **"So your and Hyuuga's mother fated you two to be together and he broke it? And now he feels terrible for breaking it?"**

I nodded, **"But now I don't love him. And he feels terrible for the things he done to the past. So forgive him."**

She hesitated and even pouted like a preschooler forced to forgive another preschooler for breaking her crayons.

"**Hmph, fine Mikan. I will relent only because you asked me to. I still think he is horrible," **she made a face.

I smiled at her and replied with an old quote that never failed to prove its worthiness.

"_**Only time will heal all wounds…"**_

It bounced off the trees, it flew off the birds. It soared high into the sky; it slithered gracefully around the ground. It was everywhere.

It was a silent whisper that if you listen closely, you can hear the words tickles your ears.

I am so sure that it spread far and wide as my ears could hear…

I wonder who could hear it.

**[GAKUEN ALICE]**

**[Natsume's POV]**

I was sitting, reading a manga in my usual seat next to Ruka.

I was surprised when everyone asked me to be friends again.

It was some time, but they came around to put more trust on me again.

Ruka especially claimed into being the only one allowed to follow me around except Imai.

And Imai went back to smirking at me, blackmailing me and Ruka, and sending me to the barrier with the Horse Hoof Glove for fun.

Then I heard words whisper into my ears.

They were Mikan's.

"_**Only time will heal all wounds…"**_

Yep, it was English. But thanks to my easy A's in that tedious language class, I was able to translate it in a flash.

And the quote was an old one that was always right. It worked for me.

I sadly smiled at myself, enough for Ruka to catch it.

The class bell rung, and then I felt a nudge in my left side, and a Horse Hoof Glove pressed lightly to the right side of head.

Should I answer the elbow or the gun?

I'd say the latter.

"Ten seconds, Hyuuga. Translate that quote Mikan whispered just now, and also tell me why you are pulling such a long face enough to rotten my mood," Imai emotionlessly said.

She brought out a timer to time me.

In a flash I translated the quote and explained why I had a gloomy behavior.

Then I glared at her, and turned to Ruka, but not before she pulled the invention away from my head. Sometimes she has enough nerves to make me crumble this school.

"Natsume, I'm sorry, but I kind of feel better that I said sorry to Mikan," Ruka said, worry etching his face.

"No, that's good Mikan forgave you. At least you won't live with regret," I assured him. I don't want to be a kind of person that someone doesn't want to be around.

Mikan leaving me made me understand what my flaws were.

"I'm glad she forgave you," I smiled. I am happy that although Mikan doesn't love me anymore, she doesn't hate me.

Although I feel terrible for breaking the bond, I am at least glad she doesn't despise me.

I am glad that at least we can be friends.

And I am thankful for that.

Ruka smiled a gentle smile and his eyes shined with relief. Imai lowered her invention and softened her eyes and gave a smile of her own.

She always cries and smiles for Mikan, I know her so well.

"I'm glad," Ruka smiled back.

We all smiled for this short while, for a while that would stretch out the seconds and minutes.

**[America, Mikan's POV]**

[ONE WEEK LATER]

On the morning after the last day of the week Hannah said Youichi couldn't see me as a "punishment", Youichi had made his way to my bedroom where I was groggily getting up and getting dressed.

Hannah flew to the entrance and effectively blocked Youichi to enter.

"**Not now, pervert! Let her get dressed and eat breakfast and then you can hug her. But you do ONE thing indecent to her and I will make you PAY!" **Hannah pulled one of Youichi's most embarrassing baby photos.

"**WHERE DID YOU GET THE PHOTO OF ME SUCKING MY THUMB IN MY SLEEP WHEN I WAS THREE?!" **Youichi was losing it now.

"**I have my sources…" **Hannah told or rather ordered a robot to take the photo to her room.

Youichi did not like this new-called 'source'.

"**I don't care if you like how I got this picture or not. But you do one indecent act to her or pounce on her before she finishes the breakfast, this is going viral," **Hannah threatened.

I chuckled as I came outside my room, dressed and ready for breakfast.

Hannah turned her back to Youichi who was fuming right now, and she gave me a hug and a flowery smile as she cheered, **"Mikan! I made one blueberry pancake and one chocolate chip pancake for you with maple syrup! Come on!"**

She yanked my hand towards the kitchen and made me sit on the stool as she plopped a plate with two pancakes each one of their kind on there.

Gratefully I put some maple syrup on there and took my time in eating as always.

But today I was forced to eat way, way, way slower (a special request from Hannah in order to make Youichi even angrier).

When I was done, I went to my room to brush and went to the living room and before I knew it, I was pressed into a tight hug.

"**Well I am still going to keep the picture in case you do anything indecent," **Hannah scoffed, before leaving the room. Looks like she is not going to let Youichi off the hook this time.

Youichi rolled his eyes in an I-don't-care manner and continued to hug me in a tight hug.

"Boy I missed you," he mumbled.

I laughed. I felt the same, but Youichi had the harder impact.

I had Hannah as a constant company, but all Youichi could hang around with was the poor Mike and I bet his favorite pass time was to beat that poor guy into pulp.

"I missed you too, dummy," I laughed, as I let tears spill.

Even he let some out and they penetrated through my hair and touched my sensitive scalp. Then I knew it was true that he, too, was crying.

This was a reunion that ended up in tears…

Tears of joy.


	16. She's Coming

Time Skip – Finals in Gakuen Alice (near to the end of school year in summer)

[Gakuen Alice, Hotaru's POV]

The tests were done, and the scores were going to be announced by Serina sensei since Narumi sensei was too eloquent and gave too many flowery speeches before starting the real business.

This was it.

I have to be the Honor Student because I promised Mikan I would.

She came with an envelope and a board of prizes that the Honor Student could choose from.

"Hello, students, I am going to announce who the Honor Student is," she smiled an eerie smile to the students, and they shivered in their seats.

I snorted. Wimps.

"And the Honor Student for this year is going to be…" Serina sensei started.

To make the tension worse, Koko did a real drum roll with his fists.

I pointed a Baka Canon in his direction and whispered in his face, "Continue the drum roll, and I will hit you to the barrier."

His face paled considerably but he stopped that annoying sound.

The classroom became so quiet that you could hear crickets in the forest outside.

"Hotaru Imai!" Serina sensei smiled at me, urging me to come forward.

I came and she put a ribbon on the left part of my blazer, and she asked me the question I was dying to hear.

"What would you like to have as a prize?"

I answered in an instant, "I want to visit my friend in Alice Academy America for one month this summer."

Everyone looked at me like I was dumb.

I could have chosen a bigger room, extended allowance for a period of time (1 year), a card for unlimited uses at the Central Town for a year, jewelry of my choice, skip a standard if I am that bright, extended rights to Hana Hime Den (since I am a member), special grounds that only top students are allowed to visit, have a different colored uniform for one year for being outstanding, all the clothes a girl could want, a trip to Europe, fine imports (silk, gold, silver, diamonds, platinum, etc), cut classes if I want to, etc.

But out of all of these choices, I wished to see Mikan.

I was feeling a little bit uncomfortable underneath all of this staring. I looked at Hyuuga and Ruka.

Hyuuga nodded at me and then sent glares to the classroom, "Hey, stop gawking at her. This is her choice. You're not her parents."

Ruka nodded in agreement.

The class shivered and obeyed Hyuuga.

Serina sensei called the HSP in, and told him of my desired prize.

He disappeared and then came back with two boarding passes. One to get there, and one to come back.

"Hotaru, I have prepared a limo over there to drive you to Mikan's condominium. You should inform them you are coming, all right?" Serina sensei gave me a sweet smile.

I tucked the boarding passes away in my folder and put that into a schoolbag.

"Yes, sensei," I faked a smile just to get this over with.

Good lord. She then made me go back to my seat, and then went on with the instructions on the end of the year celebration.

I think I'll skip. They're all so giddy and sickening. Too many treats equals to too much sugar.

Well, sugar doesn't make me hyper, but it does disturb my 8 hour beauty rest.

Hyuuga smiled at me when sensei was not looking at the classroom and whispered, "Congratulations."

I gave a curt nod, and smiled at Ruka when he nudged me with his left hand and smiled at me.

[Time skip – few hours later]

I closed off my laboratory; it was a tiring day inventing things in Mikan's absence.

I decided to do what Serina sensei asked me to do as a precautionary measure: Call Mikan.

[America – Mikan's POV]

"**Mikaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnn! Please go out with me~~~!" **A group of fan boys were chasing the hell out of me.

"Tch, they're annoying,"Youichi spat.

I drove the dove scooter higher into the sky so that the boys couldn't follow me. I love Hotaru so much for giving me this. Made my life a lot easier.

"You got that right," I said.

When we were hovering over the DA condominiums, I drove the scooter down at a high speed and parked right in front of the door.

I fished out my key and opened the door, wheeling in the scooter after me.

I took off the dove helmet that came with the scooter.

I wheeled the scooter to nearby the door, and slammed it closed so that the pouring fans couldn't get in.

I placed the dove helmet on the head of the scooter and comfortably parked it in the corner of the living room.

"Thank you, Hotaru," I mumbled.

I was the Honor Student again as always, but when the teacher asked me what I wanted as a prize, I decided to wait. Hotaru promised she would be the one to try and come to America on her own this time.

So I wanted to make sure that Hotaru got the Honor Student. I mean, if she does, then I might ask for another kind of prize.

But if she somehow due to some special circumstances is not allowed to come to AAA, then I can choose a visit to Japan.

I sighed as I plopped down on the couch and ran a hair through my shoulder length hair. Time flew so fast that my hair grew considerably in two years.

Youichi noticed my sluggishness, and knew it was from me frying my brain near the finals, so that I could be the Honor Student just in case to see Hotaru.

He hugged me and then whispered, "So you want to call her to see if she became the Honor Student in Japan?"

I was so wiped out that I couldn't move a bone.

But I gave in and meekly nodded. I kind of didn't care at that point if I was bone-tired. If I don't call Hotaru, then me frying my brain to be the top student was all for nothing.

But, just as I was reaching for my own phone, it rang.

Curious, I tapped to see who the caller is. (Yes, it is a smartphone Android)

To my surprise, it was Hotaru, the very person I wanted to call!

I was wide-eyed, and I looked at Youichi who smiled at my incredulous expression.

I tapped the "answer" option and pressed the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Mikan?" the voice sounded so excited.

"Hota-chan! Oh my god! Hey, how are you?" I exclaimed.

"Oh, Mikan! The best day ever!" Hotaru laughed. Yep, a genuine laugh that rang like pure silver bells.

"Hm? What happened that makes you want to touch the sky?" I laughed along with her.

"I kept it! I kept it! Mikan, I kept my promise and am coming to America to your place! I kept our promise!" she laughed.

I froze. Youichi looked at me worried like I found out that I failed my math test (which never happened because I never got anything lower than a 90 on anything).

Then the next thing I did really catch him off guard. I shoved his arms off of me and stood up with renewed energy and paced around the room with a huge grin on my face.

"Yes! Oh, congratulations! You will not believe it how happy I am! When are you coming?!" I was almost jumping up and down like a toddler.

As if Hii-sama never taught me how to be a lady.

"Uhhhhh, lemme check….." she trailed off.

Then a minute later, she beamed on the phone, "I am going to spend the whole July with you!"

"This calls for a celebration!" I laughed.

"Oh, Mikan…" she trailed off dreamily.

"What?" I asked.

"Next time it is your turn, allright?" she asked.

Then a headache hit me. "Yeah," I dazed.

"Mikan? You allright?" Hotaru asked with concern written in her voice.

"Yeah, I have been studying too hard," I forced a steady voice.

"You were just trying to become the Honor Student in case if I don't become it? Aww, Mikan, you shouldn't have!" Hotaru's voice rang with happiness.

"Yeah," I smiled.

"Well, use your prize on something else to reward yourself for trying so hard. I am coming to America," she sounded proud of herself.

And she should be.

We then talked a little here and there and then sweetly ended the call.

When I hit the "end call" button, I was smiling from ear to ear.

Youichi on the other hand, gave me a bewildered stare.

"What in the seven worlds was THAT about?" he asked me with a caught off expression.

"She got it. She is coming here!" I hugged him.

"Oh, that's why," he laughed.

"Why, what were you thinking?" I raised an eyebrow at him and broke the hug until I got an answer from him.

"I thought the caller was your math teacher who you gave a ridiculous nickname to and found out that you failed your math test," he laughed his head off.

"That's ridiculous. Since when have I went to my math teacher and gave her a Japanese like nickname and then freeze to find out I failed? I never do. And that was Hotaru, that girl in JAPAN," I emphasized the last word.

He kept laughing and then I rolled my eyes.

Whipping my phone out, I called Mr. Smith and waited and waited.

Finally he answered his desk phone.

"**Oh, Mikan! Did you decide what kind of prize you want?" **he asked.

"**Yes. I would like an increase in allowance for one year," **I patiently said.

"**All right! For now until next May, you will be getting 500 dollars instead of your usual 300 dollars a month, is that okay with you?" **he made sure before he made it final.

"**Yes, Mr. Smith," **I patiently replied.

"**All right, thanks for telling me. I will tell the MSP your choice right now. Thanks for calling in with your choice once again," **he said.

"**No problem," **I forced a cheerful voice.

I then hung up, the prize fixed for being a top student, and then told Youichi, "If Hannah and Mike come home, tell them I went to the shopping center."

I grabbed my keys and turquoise colored wallet that was from Verona (Youichi gave it to me, his birthday gift to me. He said it was expensive, and it must be).

"You? Shopping? That's a first," he cocked an eyebrow out of surprise at me.

I glared at him. Yes this is the first time in ages that I voluntarily went to the shopping complex, but I don't remember giving him permission to point at my weak spot of my hate for shopping.

"I am getting a present for Hotaru," I simply stated.

"Oh," he said. Since this was going nowhere, I gave him a hug, and he said, "You better be back soon or else the next time you want to shop, I am coming with you."

He didn't let me break out of his grasp until he landed a chaste kiss on my lips.

Then he let me go with a look of farewell forever. And I gave him a face for acting like I was leaving him.

"I'm gonna be back in 3 hours. You can stop acting so desperate," I laughed as I locked the door behind me.

As I walked toward the shopping center, I chuckled to myself at how funny Youichi looked. His priceless look.

"**Uuuuuwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaa! Yukihira is here!" **a girl with caked on makeup yelled and pointed a manicured finger at me.

I glared at her, and she whimpered loudly as she quickly put her finger down.

But it was too late.

The boys were hot on my trail just because of her stupidity of yelling out in the public.

As the boys rounded around me, I set an electrifying barrier around me and then I held a long crystal sharper than a bone saw and held it up.

"**Get closer to me and I will hurl this at you," **I glowered.

They shivered and backed off. I sent glares off their spines and they were yelling to their pack of my fan club, **"Hey, don't bother her. Can't you see that Mikan is not in the mood? Maybe she is not feeling well. Disperse!"**

And they all ran off, thinking that their kindness to me of giving my own space might lighten my mood.

Ohohoho those jerks.

Then all was left was that brainless ugly girl.

She is in the Youichi Fan Club, and she downright hates me. But she doesn't show it in front of my fan club or else they will grill her into burnt meat the next day in school.

Normally she usually tries to taunt me, despite the numerous times Youichi gave the ugly girl the warning that she lays one manicured finger on me; he will twist her joints backwards.

But now she cowers and is trembling. I raised an eyebrow. Am I wearing anything intimidating?

I don't wear makeup like her.

I just am wearing a normal Middle School Division uniform, properly and neatly in place, as Hotaru told me not to wear it improperly (she said that the way you wear your uniform tells about you attitude, and people who wear it improperly are rebellious), with my Special Star in my left collar.

So what is making her curl up into a ball like a cat?

Then a pale hand found its way around my waist and pulled me closer.

I sighed. What is Youichi doing here?

I turned to find Youichi's big emerald eyes fixed on the makeup girl and glaring at her with the usual high intensity whenever he sees her intimidating me.

"**What are you doing to my girlfriend, by making her vulnerable in the public?" **Youichi glared.

"**N-nothing Y-youichi, I-I just s-saw her," **the girl sobbed.

"**Then why out of all the people in this shopping center did you have to make it obvious that she was here?" **Youichi deepened his gaze.

"Youichi stop it. Whenever you won't be around me, she will only threaten me more," I whispered desperate to let this girl who was a ball of snot and tears go.

Youichi's eyes widened, and his glare went beyond wild limits, **"Mikan Yukihira is written to be with me because we switched Alice Stones and danced the Last Dance twice. You threaten her one more time I will make sure you are expelled from here for good."**

"**Yes!" **and the girl sobbed hard as she ran off.

Even after the girl long was gone, Youichi still gripped me hard, because he was trying to cool himself off.

He doesn't get angry that easily. He usually sends nonchalant glares saying to back off.

This girl had practically pounced on me. Her name is Alyssa Adams and she is the new president of the Youichi fan club and she hates me in the whole wide world.

Whenever she sees me, she would do anything to strangle me until I don't breathe anymore.

But I think with a threat with that, she won't come near a 15-foot radius of me or Youichi.

I struggle in the grasp and turn around so that I can wrap my hands around his neck to calm him down.

"I'm all right, Youichi. I am all right. Calm down, calm down," I soothe.

He pulls me into a tight hug. He is scared that the ugly girl could take us apart even though we are fated together.

But I am so sure that the girl won't come near again.

I then pull out of the hug and then tell him with a small smile, "Come on, let's go get Hotaru a gift, okay?"

He was relieved that I didn't try to shove him back into the dorm again. I thought it might make him happy if I give in to one of his pleadings.

He nodded and walked next to me as we entered the shopping center and browsed what I could get for Hotaru.

I browsed and browsed until I got frustrated. Almost nothing is satisfying my picky tastes.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I found the perfect gift.

Hotaru loves pandas and tigers the most.

So the designer store I happened to be in sold panda winter hats and tiger patterned sleeveless leather, fingerless gloves with zippers running down the sides in order to open the gloves.

I tested one pair on my hand, and since the glove fit, it should fit Hotaru like a glove.

There was a tiger-patterned scarf.

And further looking into the store, I found a pair of laced up boots that happened to be Hotaru's shoe size – 6 (yes she has tiny feet, like me).

Looking even deeper in the store I found a cute violet sundress that is strapless and reaches the knees.

I looked at the tag, and shuffled through the violet sundresses until I found Hotaru's dress size (she is slim like me).

Then after finding the perfect fit, just a little loose so it can last her a while as well as the boots, I went to the front counter.

I paid for the items:

One soft panda winter hat - $50

One pair of tiger patterned sleeveless leather, fingerless gloves with zippers on the sides - $150

One tiger patterned scarf - $20

One pair of laced up boots - $200

One strapless violet sundress - $180

I paid arms and legs for this haul for Hotaru, but the thing is I just keep collecting my allowance in a jar and never use it. Now was the best time to spend some of it.

I paid an extra of $10 to have the price tags ripped off, and then put all together in a box, which was wrapped in shiny violet wrapping paper and an eloquent silver bow.

Then with Youichi, the both of us went back to the condominiums. I took out my turquoise wallet and took out the keys.

I unlocked the door and closed it after us when we got inside.

I went to my room and shoved the big, violet box in a corner of my room and then put my wallet in one of the honeycomb shelves in my room, along with the keys.

I came downstairs, worried about Youichi, because he was just watching me as I was shopping for Hotaru's gift.

"Hey," I called out, concerned, "You okay?"

I reached out a hand to see if he caught a cold, but he grabbed it, and pulled me towards his chest, the same way Dad hugged Mom that night after it was raining hard and they teleported to the HSP's office.

"I'm fine, I just don't want that brat laying another finger on you," he murmured, voice filled of concern.

"She won't, have trust," I soothed him.

"How do I know that your friend Hotaru won't try to break us apart?" Youichi asked.

"Dummy, because you were there to see her dance the last dance with Ruka. She swapped Alice Stones with him and you still have doubt," I laughed.

Youichi froze when he failed to realize before that Hotaru was already bonded to Ruka.

He then laughed along with me, but not nervous chuckles. Beautiful laughter rang along with mine throughout the room.

"Oh, Youichi…" I trailed off, lost in the beautiful ringing laughter that smoothly died down.

"Yes?" he teased me.

"You should smile and laugh more often," I allowed him to carry me to my own room.

He set me on the bed, pulling off my shoes because I was too tired to take off my boots of my uniform.

Maybe next morning I will change my uniform into another outfit and comb my perfect bangs and shoulder length hair so that nothing is caught in it.

Tomorrow is Saturday.

"Same goes for you," he smiled to me, as he pulled my soft aqua covers over the both of us.

I smiled as I let sweet sleep overcome me.

Hotaru, Hotaru…

Come to America quickly…


	17. Back Together As One

[Mikan's POV]

_One month later…_

I took the limo to the airport on my own and told exactly where the driver to park in front of.

I was still weary from the mission given a week ago, on retrieving the files on AAO in Japan. When MSP heard that the injuries were severe, he put me on probation, not in a bad way, but in a good way to make sure I get completely healed.

I winced as the phone in my back pant vibrated. Feeling chilled, I fished out the phone and checked it.

One new message from Hotaru.

_Hey, Mikan! I am going to be there in a minute! Wait for me out there!_

_Love you,_

_Hotaru_

I smiled at the excited tone in her message.

Just then I came out of the car to see a girl with cute black hair and bright purple eyes in a trench coat with two luggage and a baka canon gun adorned on her right hand.

I winced as I helped Hotaru put her luggage in the trunk.

Hotaru followed me with her bright intensity gaze as we slid into the car. When the car took off and the soundproof divider came up so that the driver can't hear us, she pounced on me.

"Spill it, Mikan. When did this happen?" Hotaru looked at me worried.

She put a hand to my stomach and the painful pain seared through my body. I gasped and nearly doubled over in pain.

To cease the pain, I put my hand over my stomach and let a light blue light heal my internal damages and take some of the pain away.

Hotaru backed up when she saw my immediate reaction. But she still demanded an answer.

"One week ago, MSP sent us on a mission to get the information on the AAO in Japan. It is still not destroyed yet, so with the information we gathered, they can destroy it. I am not going to destroy it, special guards are going to be sent to. But when I came back from the mission, there was a huge bomb set off near the academy and then I hit myself on the ground. That added to the other severe injuries I sustained on coming back to my condominium from the MSP's office," I told her.

"How did you gather the information?" she was shocked.

"Computers. It is not easy, but after some time I was able to extract the information the MSP was so much looking for," I told her.

She nodded, but was very much worried about my state of mind.

"How long will this last?" she whispered.

"I don't know Hotaru. But every day after the mission, I am trying to heal myself and take some of the pain away. But it doesn't go away that quickly with the help of the Alice. The injuries are deep but now are not internal," I assured her.

She nodded, but felt a twinge of doubt run through her.

"It will heal, and now faster that you are concerned," I assured, "But enough about me. You will love your gift."

Hotaru smiled at me and gave me a knowing look, "And you will love mine."

The limo came and parked in front of the condominiums, and I pulled the two heavy luggage despite Hotaru's protests.

"Mikan, you haven't healed from the last mission! You can't strain your body!" Hotaru protested.

I smiled at her, and said, "Don't worry; Youichi is going to take one of the bags."

She relaxed when I told her I won't be carrying all of this weight.

I then meekly knocked because I was too tired to lift and unlock the doors.

Youichi answered the door, and he smiled before he knew the entire luggage I was carrying and lugging around with me.

"Hi, Mikan, you feeling better? Hi Hotaru, Mikan's friend how are you two doing…. AHHHHHHHH!" he yelled off his head when he saw the scenario.

Hotaru glared and covered her ears.

"Mikan! Why are you carrying all this weight! If you keep doing this, then at this rate you will never heal!" Youichi scolded me as he took both of the bags and dragged them to the living room.

I know that he knows Hotaru is my friend, but the only girl's stuff he is going to carry around, he insisted numerous times, was mine.

So he was going to let Hotaru drag each one of those heavy things to my room. I rolled my eyes at him.

Classic.

But he didn't budge, and Hotaru stared at me with questioning eyes.

"So, Mikan where is your room?" she asked.

I told Youcihi that during Hotaru's stay, she is to be in my room, and he can sleep in his own. I told him for one month bear with it, because at that time, he kicked up a fuss that is inappropriate for 15 year olds.

I shot him a look, and he nodded and went into the kitchen.

I then smiled at Hotaru as if nothing in the world had ever happened.

"This way, Hotaru," I led her upstairs.

She dragged and half limped up the stairs with one of her bags, and I asked her numerous times if she needed help, and she waved it off, with the excuse of, "Listen to your boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes and she went downstairs to drag the other bag and the baka canon upstairs. I unlocked my room, and let her in.

Once we were inside, she breathed a sigh of wonder.

"Oh, Mikan, it is so pretty," she smiled as she looked around the room.

She looked just like me when I first came here.

Then as she went around the room, she saw the big purple box of all the presents for her, and said, "Oh, Mikan, this is for me?"

I nodded. "But we will open it after we eat some cake."

Her violet eyes widened when she heard the word cake.

"Cake?"

I laughed, "Yes, silly. Cake. We will eat it right now, in the kitchen. You can clean up if you want to. You are bundled up so tightly."

I pointed to her fur coat that reached her knees, mittens, hat underneath the fur hood, long pants, boots, scarf, and earmuffs.

She shivered as if she was still in the airplane, "The airplane is cold."

I laughed at her cute expression. So true.

"I'll be downstairs, Hotaru," I smiled over my shoulder.

I was in purple sweatpants and furry socks, and a comfy button down white t-shirt, so there is no way I can be cold, right?

I trotted into the kitchen and went to the fridge and pulled out the circular violet cake.

I poked two candles in it, and had the lighter beside me.

"You seriously feeling better?" Youichi asked me as he gave me a hug.

I pulled out with a confused face. Then I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Where is Hannah and Mike."

"Went out on a date, to Olive Garden," he said, shrugging in the same manners as he did when I came back home.

I still didn't believe him.

He noticed this and flipped out his phone, and showed me the message:

_From: Hannah_

_Sent at: 7:30 p.m._

_Message:_

_**Hey pervert!**_

_**Gonna go on a date with Mike to the Olive Garden. Won't be back until midnight, because we will be catching a movie afterwards.**_

_**You do one perverted thing to Mikan and I am going to let that baby picture of you go viral. I didn't delete it…**_

_**See ya,**_

_**Hannah**_

_Options: Forward / Reply / Delete_

I burst out laughing as I remembered the baby picture Hannah took from Youichi, much to his anger. She still has it!

He pouted as he said, "I kept the message just to make sure you know that I am not lying that they really did go out."

And with a tiny _bip _the message was deleted.

The door creaked open and Hotaru came in her pajamas. She smiled at me and gave Youichi a weird look.

Youichi pouted once more, and then left the kitchen in order to let Hotaru and I celebrate silently.

"What was THAT all about?" she asked.

"Hannah is blackmailing him because she got her hands on one of his baby photos and says that if he does one thing perverted thing whenever she can't keep an eye on me, she will let the photo loose on the internet," I laughed softly.

Hotaru snickered when she heard that, and then she asked, "Where are Hannah and Mike?"

"Out on a date," I shrugged.

"Ooh, classy," she smiled, but not in a snotty way, just in a mischievous way.

I smile at her in agreement. Sometimes I have the urge to ask her if we are just friend-like sisters or if we are sisters by birth. The latter option would make sense why we have the same weird interests and no one else does.

I then motioned her to the cake, and she gasps out in surprise, "Mikan, it's pretty!"

"I know right? I made it myself," I smiled.

I took the lighter out, and let her light one candle and I did the same.

Instead of singing the happy birthday song, we just went for wishing on the count of three.

"On the count of three, Hotaru, we will make a wish and blow out the candles," I said.

She nodded, and I started it off.

"One," we held hands like sisters.

"Two," she whispered, and we smiled softly at each other.

"Three!" I whispered a little loudly.

A slight pause followed as we both made our wishes.

I knew what Hotaru wanted to become. She wanted to become an inventor because of her unique Alice.

And I want to become a violin player in the London Symphony because of my music skills.

We both knew our wishes but we just wanted to wish it again.

Only the two of us knew what we wanted to become.

We blew out the candles. Ruka and Youichi don't know our wishes, but we know that when the time comes, they will be supportive of what we want to achieve in life.

Hotaru asked me as if today was the first time we ever made a wish, "What did you wish for, Mikan?"

"Hotaru, you already know mine. I even know yours. But these wishes we make every year is our eyes only to know," I reminded her.

Hotaru hugged me and whispered to me, "I must be the luckiest girl on Earth to have you as my sister."

I hugged her back and whispered, "If you are the luckiest girl on Earth, then I am the luckiest girl in this universe to have met you. My life would have been different without you, Hotaru."

We broke it after a minute and each of us pulled out our candles and cut the tiny circular cake in half. I baked it enough to be big enough to be cut into two big pieces of cake for Hotaru and me. I find storing leftover cake troublesome.

And besides, this was something to be celebrated only by Hotaru and I.

After finishing the cake pieces, we put the dishes in the sink. Normally I would be a clean freak and try to wash the dishes the moment they hit the sink, but I let it pass this time.

"Nah, I'll wash 'em in the morning," I pawed a hand through the air when Hotaru asked me the question if I need wash the dishes now.

"Now for the presents," Hotaru smiled.

It was unusual to see Hotaru so worked up about exchanging gifts. Normally she would aloof in interest and would give off the I-don't-care attitude to everyone.

She must have something nice planned to give me.

We went up to my room, and I took out the purple box and handed it to Hotaru.

She carefully unwrapped, as Hii sama always warned us to be ladylike and not tear presents open.

"If you want to, you can rip it open," I said after a long pause of watching her wince at slowly unwrapping a tape off the edge of the purple wrapping paper.

She sighed a sigh of relief and then ripped off the wrapping paper and didn't bat an eyelash of concern to the several places where she painfully ripped the wrapping paper.

Then she took the lid of the box off and gasped at the stuff inside.

"Oh, my, god! Mikan this is so cute!" Hotaru laughed as she laid everything out.

She tried on the panda hat and purred, "So soft, almost like silk."

The tiger patterned fingerless gloves with zippers on sides, "I have wanted this for a long time."

The tiger patterned scarf, "Just cute."

Then the lace up boots, she tried them on and was gleeful to find them a perfect fit. She took them off and then put them back.

As for the dress she tackled me in a hug and went to try it on, and came out. She looked so cute! The sundress complimented her eyes!

She changed back, and then put all of the gifts in the box, put the sturdy lid on it, and put it next to her stuff.

"How much did you pay for all of this?" she prodded me. Nowadays, cute stuff cost arms and legs.

"Almost my year worth of allowance," I got out.

Her face fell. She knew that special stars get top allowance and if this cost all of it, then this must be worth hundreds of dollars each.

She was going to think of returning it back when I refused it. I gladly found a way to use my allowance, no way am I accepting the money back!

"Hotaru, don't feel bad. I had no use for my allowance and thought there was nothing to do with it. And this stuff is meant for you, not me. You look so cute in all of this," I gestured to the stuff inside the box with my hand.

She smiled considerably when I assured her that the things I got for her was meant to be for her.

"As much as I love your gift, you will love mine," she smiled.

She then took two boxes that were tiny and individually wrapped in blue and purple packaging with little gold decorative bows.

I smiled. I don't care if my gift is tiny or not. But its value intensifies infinite times when Hotaru gives it to me.

She prodded me to open my smaller box which was the blue box. I took off the gold bow, and carefully opened the wrapping paper in under a minute.

Hii sama told me how to effectively and quickly unwrap packaging paper and still be viewed as a proper lady.

I opened the box and saw inside it was a circular shaped locket.

"It's real," she whispered.

I then looked at the markings on the jewelry and box and it said the box was 18K gold.

I shrugged, "It is valuable because you gave it to me."

"Open it," she smiled.

I opened it, and inside it was a picture of mom and dad. Mom's picture on the left picture case and dad's picture on the right case.

When I tried to touch them, there was a glass case encasing the pictures to make sure they don't get spoiled.

"It has a little latch to open the glass case, like a door," she showed me how to open it and close it.

Then I closed the locket altogether and let her string the locket around my neck.

"It's beautiful," I whispered tears of joy, "You gave me a little reminder of mom and dad."

She smiled, and prodded me to open the bigger purple box.

The bigger box held two identical charm bracelets that were 18K gold as well (like I care, but Hotaru told me for my information.

One bracelet held my birthstones: emeralds.

The other bracelet held Hotaru's birthstones: amethysts.

She told me, "You find someone important in your life like a good friend or close person, and give them one of the bracelet and wear one yourself so that you are bonded to that person in a ring of friendship."

"Silly goose," I laughed as I took Hotaru's right wrist adorned with the Pandora Bracelet I gave her.

"W-what are you doing?!" she faltered.

"The only true person who is close to me enough for me to make a bond with is you, silly Hotaru. I wouldn't want to bond with any other sister in this world," I laughed at her.

I strung the amethyst adorned bracelet on her hand, and the emerald adorned bracelet on mine.

We looked at the word, sisters, large letters in gold in which the birthstones were in the middle of the letters.

"Now we are bonded," I smiled.

"I feel silly for keeping part of the present I meant to give to you," she smiled.

"No, I chose what to do with my gift. That is for you to wear just like the other bracelet I gave to you. Don't take it off unless for necessary reasons, all right?" I smiled to her.

She smiled to me, and lifted her right hand and showed it to herself.

"Always," she smiled.

We weren't little girls who, most of them after our age were greedy after gold and silver and boys.

We were bonded and wouldn't care less if the jewelry was fake.

But it was only fair that it was real, because this was our friendship. Ours is pure, so our indication bracelets have to be pure.

Because pureness is the only way to describe us, then the bracelets must be pure.

I hugged Hotaru and she silently hugged me back.

"Forever?" this sounded like a word that dragged me, but yet filled me with adrenaline.

"Forever.." she whispered, like a wind lulling me to sleep, just like the moonless nights when I was little and I had cried myself to sleep.

I wonder why I eventually went to sleep. It was the moon.

I knew that all along in my life I wasn't alone.

Someone or something was waiting in the shadows ready to come out.

It was the footsteps.

The footsteps that are people that were new.

New people that would come to my life and make it better than it was then.

I had guessed this when I was little, but shrugged it off because adults said kids my age were immature and are always relying on their imagination.

But Hotaru wasn't an imagination.

Youichi wasn't an imagination.

And Hannah and Mike weren't one either.

We went into a sweet sleep, wrapped in each other's arms, like little sisters who were innocent like angels.

Little cute girls who cuddled together for the smallest of things.

Yeah, Hotaru and I are both 14, but we have the hearts of little kids.

Our hearts are pure as they are and our soul is as clean as they are.

And we wonder that each passing year, we don't feel different, it felt as if the world just stopped for us, like we stopped aging.

It was like we ate ambrosia* from the heavens and had become little girls forever.

Like we were covered in amber sap*.

Like we were being preserved as little girls forever…

**Occasional Author's note:**

**Thanks for all the positive reviews! I love you guys for always having something new and nice to say about my story. I feel that becoming a member of was worth my time, because this website is a place where people admire others.**

**The contest is going on for an entry of one boy name and one girl name for the prize of being credited at the beginning and end of the final chapter! Enter before I decide to take it down!**

**And one more poll, just for fun, should the baby child of Mikan and Youichi be a baby girl or boy? PM me or tell it to me in your reviews.**

**And to those people who are begging me to make it a Mikan and Youichi fanfic, I am going to facepalm myself. Please read the summary of this story, and read the character pairing I made it clear I was going to revolve around. Of course it is a Mikan and Youichi fanfic, so please stop asking me, ok? I am not going to change the pairing and make it MXN to all of Mikan and Youichi fans! You can stop worrying now!**

***Ambrosia* - is a type of food in Greek Mythology that only the Twelve Olympians in Mount Olympus ate. It was a food that was said that if you have one taste of it, then you become immortal, thus contributing to the story.**

***Amber Sap* - you HAVE to know what this is, it is that sticky substance that hardens immediately. All the time it tends to accidentally fall on bugs, and then preserve them for a long time.**

**Ja gakuenians! This story is not over yet!**

**Reviwes and CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM are allowed (I have been getting mean flames by PM and it is not pretty, sorry if the capitalization is too intense…)**

**MetallicTitanium ^.^**


	18. Our Hearts Are Pure

Mikan's POV

This went on and on every year. Either of us (me and Hotaru) in alternating years tried to be the top and come to each other's side.

It went on and on for four years, and the year of my life came to me…

Four years later…

Last year of High School Division, start of the school year.

I went to the mirror, and had my whole uniform for the High School Division done except the tie. I am a neat freak as always and effortlessly did the tie perfectly in one minute.

I glanced at myself.

It felt like the years were seconds that passed by.

Hotaru left at the end of her month stay and four seconds passed by and I went from ribbons in my blazer to a tie in it.

Soft footsteps came behind me, and wrapped their arms around me.

"Youichi…" I whispered.

"Yes?" he whispered into my hair.

"I'm scared…" sounding like the little girl I was at heart.

I was scared.

I felt like the time I was little and people would try to beat me until I didn't have any senses left in myself, and it was terrible. So terrible, I could die.

"Why?" he asked me, turning me around to see my eyes wavering.

"What will happen when we leave through those gates?" I asked.

Not just any gates that I went through in numerous times in my life. I meant the grand gates that separated the academy from the outside commoners.

"We'll have to find out. We will find bright careers to fill our lives but we will find happiness out there," he said, pulling me towards his chest.

I took the necklace with Youichi's and Hotaru's alice stone on it and squeezed the emerald colored stone.

Youichi took his necklace and squeezed mine.

"Promise?" I almost sounded like I was making him pinky swear, and I felt embarrassed.

"Promise," his voice was serious not curving in delight like he was pinky swearing me back.

My phone buzzed and I knew someone was calling.

Youichi let me go, but he twirled me around so he could still hug me from behind.

I fumbled with the phone and saw that Hotaru was calling me.

"Hello?" my voice had hollowness.

"Mikan? What happened?" Hotaru worriedly asked.

"Nothing," I said as a quick cover-up.

"I know something is wrong. You can fool everybody but me and your weird boyfriend in America with you," Hotaru sternly said.

"I HEARD that, inventor-san," Youichi did a temporary nickname.

"Don't care, ghost-boy," Hotaru glared through the phone.

"Robot freak," Youichi countered back.

"Spirit controller," Hotaru snapped.

"Machine girl," Youichi whirled.

"Necromancer," Hotaru clipped.

"Enough, enough!" I sighed in frustration.

Youichi huffed a breath while Hotaru sighed.

"I just wanted to say I am so happy you are coming to live back in Japan with that freak," Hotaru sounded genuine until the last three words.

I sweatdropped. True that I was coming back to Japan, but Youichi got thrown off by the last insult.

"Hn. Hijiri you're just like Hyuuga," Hotaru mused.

By this time, Youichi had forgiven Natsume, and speaking of which, did you know he found a new girl? Her name is Yuki Nitsawami, and she is understanding towards Natsume and loves to cling to me and chat with me like a sister.

Although it hurt me when we really were going our own ways, it made me feel better that Natsume moved on rather than staying at the same spot where we split apart.

They exchanged stones and are fated, but however, Natsume still keeps a pair of blood red eyes on Youichi to make sure he is treating me right or else he will reduce Youichi into a pile of ashes.

Natsume smiles only to me and Yuki, and treats me like how he treats Aoi.

Like a burriko, but not the name calling part.

"HEY!" Youichi made a grab for the phone, but I dangled it low.

"No, Youichi. If this phone ends up as a piece of rubbish, then the HSP will have my head," I warned him.

He angrily quieted down, and I twirled around, and went back to talking to Hotaru.

Then I heard a quiet, cute voice that I loved.

"Mi-chan is here? You're talking to her? Can I talk to her?" Yuki's voice danced across the room.

"No," Hotaru's voice was cold and monotonous, because she was always getting annoyed by Yuki's flowery presence.

"Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Yuki broke into a fit.

"It is time for class. You can talk to her later. Later Mikan, or else she will have my head as well," Hotaru mused at the last part.

"Oh Hotaru," I laughed, as I shut the cell off.

"Come on, Youichi, or else your new nickname is skipper, skipper for skipping class today," I laughed as I fixed his tie, a little undone which he only does in front of me.

I made it perfect, and he pretended to choke under me tying his tie, as if it was not worse than tying his ribbon numerous times in middle school, how could this be worse?

"**Yo! Loverboy! Mike and I are leaving! You guys get to the school on the dove scooter!" **Hannah yelled.

A minute later, a slam of the door and the click of the key shut the door.

I took my hands away from Youichi's uniform, but he yanked them with his own hands and held them to his cheek.

"I have something to tell you. Afterschool near the lake?" he asked, something occupied his emerald eyes.

I raised my eyes nodded my head, feeling my short bob go up and down. I cut it, since it was such a hassle, and the fact that the short bob cut was the hairstyle Youichi saw me in.

"We should get to school, don't want to be late…" Youichi whispered and let me go.

I watched with worry. He isn't going to abandon me, is he?

That thought ran through my head as we drove to school in the dove scooter.

Youichi's POV

Dammit! I made her worry!

She thinks I am going to go ahead and shove her in a corner and neglect the bond we both worked hard to make together!

I wish I can hit myself right now, but Mikan can easily notice.

And we were this close to being late. We made it in time for first period English, and our teacher, Mrs. Parks, didn't suspect anything.

I need to tell her today afterschool, or else this whole thing will go to waste.

I need to, or else I will lose her like him in Japan.

I don't want to experience the same pain.

I put my hand to my pocket where a small box was.

Today is the day. Will I be able to tell her today?

I have to.

Normal POV

The whole day felt heavy. It felt like a place that was hard to breathe in, for Mikan.

At lunch, Hannah eyed Mikan nervously trying to perfect her tie even when it didn't wilt in the slightest degree imperfect.

Hannah pulled Mike into the corner and whispered to him, **"Something is on with the two. You pull Youichi to one end of the table and I will do to Mikan the same. I want you to investigate what is up with lover boy and I will see what is making Mikan so nervous all the time. Got it?"**

Mike nodded, **"Got it."**

The mischievous couple turned to the unfortunate pair and pulled them at polar opposites of the table.

"**Hey, Mikan! I wanna talk to you about the prom that is happening in spring! Let's go to that end of the table, ok?"** Hannah didn't even listen to Mikan's protests.

She dragged Mikan to the other end of the table, and the two guys were left alone to their own misery.

Youichi looked at Mikan who was being dragged against her own wills, with a worried face.

Then he knew that Mike has an idea on what is happening and gave Mike a suspicious glare.

"**Haha… you know them, they are probably going to discuss which dresses to buy, right?" **Mike cannot give out what Hannah told him to do. She is the Ice Queen of AAA if you don't do what she wants; you better have a place to hide, because she will get you.

Youichi narrowed his eyes. That's it. Lying detector proved positive, and Mike was lying.

Lie Detector Invention No. 72 (made by Mikan for Youichi to find out if the mischievous pair was lying or not): tells whether someone is telling a truth or lie. If it is a lie, then it provides evidence why it is a lie.

Youichi stared at the tablet screen of the invention. He looked up at Mike and narrowed his eyes at the poor guy, **"They bought the dresses in early August. Well, Hannah dragged her."**

Mike sweatdropped, **"Hannah, help me…"**

"**HANNAH set you up to THIS?!" **Youichi flailed his arms, **"Wait till I get my hands on her for doing this…"**

"**Youichi, wait. I'll tell you one hint. We are kind of doing this to find out what is on your mind?" **Mike pinned Youichi back.

Youichi sighed, and sat back down on the chair.

Mike sat down next to him.

"**Come on, spit it out," **Mike prodded.

"**I don't know how to tell her…" **Youichi started.

"**Tell her what? 'I love you?'?" **Mike snapped.

"**Not that…" **Youichi took a tiny black velvet box and quickly slid it back in.

"**Oh my god… is that a…?" **Mike's eyes widened at seeing the box only. He didn't even propose to Hannah.

Then an awkward silence enveloped the two.

Then Mike broke it by bursting out, **"Can I see it? Can I see it! I want to know what it is looking like!"**

Youichi glared at Mike and he died down his childish acts, **"Mike. You are a dummy. If I show the ring to you, then everybody will get the wrong impression that I want to marry you. Over my dead body would I want to be gay."**

Mike shuddered at the amount of iciness in Youichi's last sentence.

At least he knew what was on Youichi's mind. He wanted to propose to her.

[Hannah's POV]

I dragged the girl to an empty table for the special stars. We set down our lunches and started the dirty business.

"**Three words for you, sister. Spit. It. Out," **I cornered her.

Then she gave me a really confused stare, **"What should I tell you?"**

"**Why are you looking all nervous all the time today?" **I asked what was on my mind.

She got even more confused. She was probably going to argue about already has a dress.

"**Yes we did buy your dress. No more dress talking, although I am disappointed that you don't want to buy another one,"** I glumly stated.

: / / w w w . – – o n e – – – – – – – – p – . h t m l (get rid of the spaces in order to view Mikan's gown)

"**What is up with you? Why are you nervous?" **I prodded her.

She gave me a worry-stricken face and started her story, **"After you and Mike left for school, I was fixing Youichi's tie. I pulled my hands away from him but he yanked them back until I promised him to meet him today afterschool at the lake. But the kind of emotions I saw in his eyes made me scared he might abandon me like before. I'm scared, Hannah, what will he tell me at the lake today?"**

"**That's it. I tease him to be lover boy and all, but if he dumps you, I am going to twist all his joints backwards," **I end the last part with an adorned Idiot Gun 10.0 (Not with single layered steel bullets, completely steel bullets, my latest).

I blow the bazooka's end as if I had shot someone with it, and storm outside the cafeteria after dumping my plates in the sink (in the cafeteria we have reusable plates).

I am storming down the halls with negative energy flowing around me, trying to resist the temptation of killing that brat.

Then Mike came racing after me and tried to yell through my thick negativity cloud.

"**What is it?" **I let frustration clip my voice as I swayed the cloud away.

"**I found out why Youichi was so reserved today!" **Mike whined.

"**And why is that? Is it because he didn't get rainbow sprinkles on his cupcake yesterday at lunch?" **I sarcastically countered.

"**He doesn't know how to ask Mikan to marry him!" **Mike blurted out quietly.

I stopped dead in my tracks and then our fans were piling around us. I pointed my Idiot Gun at them and glowered, **"Get lost. Not in the mood, you twits."**

The shivered and cleared out. I then turned to Mike with shock on my own eyes, **"He what…?"**

Mike merely nodded.

I became defensive. How does Mike know that Youichi is going to propose to Mikan?

"**I want proof," **I said, crossing hands over my chest in denial.

"**Have it your way. I think that a black, velvet box containing an engagement ring sounds like he is asking Mikan to be his wife," **Mike said.

I was drop dead silent. Marriage?

At 18 years old.

I burst out laughing, and Mike looked at me with confusion in his eyes.

"**Why are you laughing? You don't want Mikan to be happy?" **Mike asked.

"**Oh, I do want her to be happy, but she told me she was worried that Youichi was going to abandon her, that was why I was restraining myself from strangling him alive. But marriage proposal, eh? Gotta get that on tape…" **I trailed off.

Mike sweatdropped, **"You're not going to…"**

I smirked and held up the camera from my bag, **"Oh yes, yes I am. And you're going to come with me."**

Mike nodded, and we came back to the cafeteria, smiling as if nothing had happened.

We went through the rest of the classes flawlessly and in homeroom, all four of us finished our homework in a blink of an eye.

Then after our ability class, the school was over for the day.

One hour ahead of Youichi's plan, I dragged myself and Mike up a willow tree (it is short but offers amazing concealment and a perfect opening for my camera.

Let the show start…

[Mikan's POV]

I was a little tired from the quick mission that was given by the HSP, but Youichi tugged my arm near the lake like he said.

I was just worried that if he abandons me, then I will go to square one, the same heartbroken me when Natsume was kissing Luna.

We stopped at the edge of the lake, a place where the lake reached out further into the land, the same place where we exchanged our Alice Stones.

I looked up to him with pure curiosity as he held both my hands in his. His emerald eyes were clouded over and I was starting to worry myself over again.

But instead of opening his mouth to speak an eloquent introduction to the topic of: let's go our own ways in life, he said my full name.

"Mikan Sakura Yukihira…"

I never knew my name sounded so pretty.

But my thought about the way he said my name was shattered when he did something shocking.

He knelt down on one knee, like the way men propose to young women.

Then my eyes widened. Is he…?

Confirmed.

He pulled out a black velvet box out of his pocket and opened it.

It was so beautiful! Of course it was a diamond ring, but the big, neat diamond was not set on a gold ring like usual.

It was white gold!

The ring:

: / / – / / – – – – . j p g (to view the image, post it in the browser and delete the spaces)

It was not too showy, and not to plain. It was simple, but beautiful. Artfully designed was the interior of the ring.

"Mikan, will you marry me?" he asked.

So overwhelmed. I was only 18 right now! But it doesn't matter. We would just be engaged, and we already were since middle school. We would be married once we leave the academy.

I dropped down on my knees, and whispered a thousand yesses, enough to make him smile that we are in this together.

He pulled me into a hug and I hugged him back.

After a minute of hugging, he slid the ring onto my left ring finger.

"Now we are officially engaged," he smiled.

We then hugged once more and then went back to the condominiums and heard tapping of the foots coming behind us.

"**Nice show you put on there, but I guess it is in Japanese, so I will borrow loverboy to translate the whole proposal for me," **Hannah smirked at Youichi.

"**How did you…?" **I asked, color draining my face. Youichi became a statue.

"**This," **smirked Hannah, and with that, she held up her camera/camcorder.

"**Gimme that!" **Youichi made a dive for the tape that Hannah took out of the camcorder and labeled, _Youichi's Proposal to Mikan._

"**Not in a thousand years. Going to make copies of it to sell and people will finally accept the fact that you two are really fiancés," **Hannah put the tape in her invention of duplication.

Youichi was going to haunt her with ghosts when I telepathically talked to him.

"_Don't you think this will do us good?"_

"_What do you mean GOOD? She is gonna leak the proposal!"_

"_Well, the fans are still bothering us too much, so if she lets out the tape, then others will finally accept that we are going to get married, whether they like it or not."_

"_Now that you say that…"_

"_They might stop bothering us, so it might be good. Hannah gets money, we get a lower in fans bothering us."_

"_But…"_

"_It's a win-win situation. I might not like getting my pictures going public, but if this recording goes public, then people will accept the fact. And you know Hannah."_

"_You mean if she got such a valuable recording like this, then she would love to sell it individually rather than put it on YouTube?"_

"_Exactly. Let her do the sale. She gets something, we get something."_

"**Hey Mikan, I know this is a video clip of you guys, so before I start selling the tape of the proposal, how about you have a copy for yourself? For free for you, Mikan!" **Hannah handed me a copy, and hugged me tight.

She let go, glared at Youichi and poised her Idiot Gun up with her glare saying, you-don't-take-care-of-her-and-do-one-thing-wrong- I-will-fling-you-out-of-the-Milkyway-galaxy.

Youichi understood what her indirect threat said, and nodded his head yes while shuddering a little.

But I am happy.

I take a walk.

How am I going to tell Hotaru this? That I got officially engaged.

Imagine breaking the news to her. Then she will point her Baka Canon to Youichi and give him the identical threat as Hannah, and Natsume will glare with his crimson eyes that say that if he hurts me wrong one time he will burn Youichi into a pile of ashes.

I look at my left hand which is adorned by my engagement ring.

I do not fear anything now.

I am only hoping that my life together with Youichi stays this peaceful.


End file.
